r 


THE 


Trial  and  Imprisonment 


OF 


GEO.  W.  FELTS 

A   Deaf  Old   Soldier   Robbed  of   His   Rights 
The  Truth  in  the  Case 


Matilda   Fletcher  Wiseman 

Author  of  **  Practical  Ethics  for  Schools  and  Families,' 
"Rays  of  Light  from  the  Moral  Heavens^' 
*'The  Moral  Chart  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,' 
Popular  Lectures,  Poems^  Etc, 


RocKLFORD,  Illinois 
1907 


«■    ar^.WV.v* 


mJ9^^mX'^  ^  •  ^', 


'•^'' 


i 

: 

GEORGE    W.     FELTS. 


THE 


Trial  m  1.\ipriso\.\ie\t 


OF 


GEO.  W.  FELTS 

A    Deaf   Old   Soldier    Robbed  of    His    Rights 
The   Trlth    in  the  Cask 


Matilda   Fletcher  Wiseman 

Author  of  "Pnutical  Ethics  for  Schools  and  Familusy 
''Rays  of  Lij^ht  from  tht  Moral  Hea^'ens," 
"Thf  Moral  Chart  of  the  Prince  of  Peace," 
Popular  Lectures,  Poems,  Etc. 


RocKFORD.  Illinois 
1907 


6  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

curved,  looking  more  as  though  it  had  been  scraped  by  the  nail, 
as  he  struggled  to  pull  away  from  the  man  who  held  him  by  the 
neck  in  the  dark.  We  have  now  the  testimony  of  twelve  per- 
sons who  saw  Felts  soon  after  he  was  taken  to  the  jail,  the  most 
of  them  the  second  and  third  day  after  he  arrived  and  at  least 
four  of  them  the  day  that  he  came,  and  two  of  them  within  the 
first  hour  he  was  there.  He  had  not  been  alone  since  his  arrest 
and  could  not  have  sprained  and  inflamed  and  bruised  his  own 
neck  if  he  had  had  an  opportunity.  He  had  told  so  many, 
that  he  supposed  every  body  knew  it,  but  his  lawyer  told  him 
not  to  talk  to  anyone  about  the  case.  I  also  was  instructed  to 
keep  still  as  to  the  particular  line  of  defense,  and  so,  many  who 
might  have  seen  his  condition,  did  not  have  their  attention 
called  to  it.  Six  months  passed  away  before  his  trial  and  the 
description  of  his  condition  and  th^  testimony  about  his  neck 
did  not  appear  in  the  evidence  at  the  trial,  and  on  account  of 
his  extreme  deafness  he  did  not  know  of  this  neglect  until  after 
the  trial  when  it  was  too  late. 

The  second  day  I  called  to  see  him,  I  asked  if  there  was 
anything  I  could  do  for  him.  He  said,  "  My  sprained  neck 
hurts  so  bad  I  can't  lie  down,  and  I  can't  get  any  sleep.  I  have 
a  large  pillow  at  home  and  I  wish  you  would  get  it  for  me." 
I  had  the  pillow  sent  to  him,  and  he  found  that  he  could  get  a 
little  sleep  and  was  more  comfortable  when  I  next  saw  him.  I  at- 
tended the  preliminary  trial,  and  found  that  the  policy  of  our  at- 
torney, was,  not  to  offer  any  witnesses  or  evidence  at  that  time.  1 
do  not  know  whose  policy  it  was  not  to  have  any  of  the  pro- 
ceedings communicated  to  the  accused ;  but  I  know  that  it  was 
the  sworn  duty  of  the  State's  attorney  to  see  to  it  that  an  ac- 
cused citizen  has  all  the  rights  guaranteed  to  him  by  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  State  and  of  the  United  States,  and  the  laws 
governing  both  the  accused  and  the  accuser ;  and  if  he  told  the 
truth  when  he  asserted  before  the  board  of  pardons  that  the 
attorney  for  the  defense  would  not  have  permitted  the  proceed- 
ings to  be  communicated  to  the  accused,  that  "  he  would  not 
have  an  interloper,"  as  he  called  an  interpreter  "  between  him- 


of  George  W.  Felts  7 

self  and  his  client/*  that  he  **  could  not  have  crowded  it  down 
his  throat."  it  is  a  new  and  a  strange  idea.  How  does  he  reconcile 
this  with  his  other  statement  that  any  or  all  of  his  friends  were 
allowed  at  any  stage  of  the  trial  to  become  *'  interlopers  "  and 
come  between  the  attorney  for  the  defendant  and  his  client. 
That  statement  was  so  wholly  untrue,  that  I  am  prepared  to 
doubt  the  other.  I  do  know  that  at  the  preliminary  trial,  no 
one  approached  the  defendant  to  talk  through  his  eartube,  nor 
was  a  word  written  out  for  him  to  read,  and  all  he  knew  about 
it  was  what  he  read  in  the  papers  afterward.  I  sat  by  his 
side  through  the  whole  session.  He  was  very  much  discour- 
aged because  he  had  no  chance  to  say  a  word,  or  to  show  his 
neck  at  the  preliminary  trial.  He  worried,  because,  as  he 
truly  said  bis  neck  would  be  well  before  the  regular  session  of 
the  trial  court  in  October.  1  had  already  paid  one  hundred 
dollars  on  the  attorney's  fee  for  expenses,  and  had  entered 
into  a  contract  to  pay  him  five  hundred  more,  and  I  could  not 
think  of  breaking  with  him,  especially,  as  he  had  told  me,  be- 
fore I  had  employed  him,  that  he  had  '*  examined  George  and 
that  he  had  a  good  defensL*."  I  persuaded  my  brother  into 
promising  that  he  would  leave  everything  in  the  hands  of  his 
attorney,  and  tell  A.  M.  Felts  all  about  it  and  show  him  his  neck 
when  he  came.  We  expected  him  every  train.  This  comforted 
him  a  little,  and  he  waited  only  to  be  disappointed  from  day 
to  day,  as  he  was  reported  very  sick  and  never  came.  A.  M. 
Felts  is  the  oldest  brother  who  lives  in  Fort  Dodge,  Iowa,  and 
as  he  has  had  considerable  to  do  in  matters  pertaining  to  the 
law  and  court  practice  and  was  the  one  upon  whom  we  all 
depended  for  help  in  this  sad  calamity,  it  was  indeed  a  great 
disappointment  to  all  of  us.  I  have  always  believed  that  if 
he  had  come  at  that  stage  of  the  case,  that  he  would  have  se- 
cured the  evidence  in  sight,  and  have  gathered  more,  and  that 
his  acquaintance  with  people  throughout  the  county,  would 
have  helped  to  bring  out  the  truth.  I  was  very  anxious  that 
he  should  arrive  before  I  left,  which  I  was  compelled  to  do, 
as  Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  says  in  his  paper  in  this  book.     We 


8  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

were  both  obliged  to  stay  in  Des  Moines  for  months  at  the 
bedside  of  a  son,  who  was  dangerously  ill  with  typhoid  fever, 
and  we  could  do  nothing  except  to  write  letters  of  encourage- 
ment, to  aid  my  deaf  and  helpless  brother. 

Suspense  over  the  terrible  illness  of  our  youngest  son, 
and  sorrow  over  the  sad  condition  of  George  almost  killed 
me.  It  was  December  before  I  could  get  back  to  Rockford, 
and  I  found  that  all  kind  of  false  stories  had  been  set  afloat 
about  him  and  nothing  had  been  said  in  his  favor  by  the  press. 
I  was  at  a  loss  to  know  how  this  was  managed.  One  of  our 
sons  is  the  city  editor  of  a  prominent  daily  in  the  west  and  he 
has  told  us  that  it  is  the  custom  of  the  State's  Attorney  to  ktep 
them  supplied  with  news  concerning  his  important  cases.  I 
have  been  thinking,  since  studying  the  astonishing  fertility  of 
the  State's  attorney's  imagination,  that  he  may  have  been  exer- 
cising that  rare  gift,  at  every  stage  of  this  case,  and  upon 
every  object  within  his  reach.  This  poor,  deaf,  old  soldier 
came  into  court,  with  every  man  in  the  county  prejudiced 
against  him,  so  far  as  wicked  rumor  could  do  it,  and  not  one 
word  was  communicated  to  him  of  all  tliat  was  said  to  the  jury, 
and  not  one  word  that  they  said  in  reply,  and  no  opportunity 
was  given  to  him  to  challenge  one  of  them.  When  the  wit- 
nesses were  called,  not  one  thing  that  was  said  by  any  of  them 
was  spoken  through  his  eartube,  nor  written  and  presented  to 
him  to  read  that  I  heard  or  saw,  and  I  sat  within  from  one  to 
four  feet  of  him  during  the  whole  trial.  He  had  no  more  part 
in  his  trial  than  any  spectator,  so  far  as  I  could  see.  He  went  on 
the  stand  to  make  his  statement,  and  both  attorneys  spoke 
through  the  eartube  questioning  him,  and  the  State's  attorney, 
(I  wish  every  one  who  reads  this  paper  could  have  witnessed 
that  scene)  tried  every  trick  and  scheme  to  get  the  deaf  old 
man  to  incriminate  himself.  He  failed  in  his  object.  (That 
was  the  only  time  the  tube  was  used  during  the  trial.)  The 
accused,  however,  hears  so  imperfectly  through  the  tube,  that 
he  often  misunderstands,  as  once  when  he  was  asked  how  long 
lie  had  lived  in  Rockford,  he  said,  "  twenty-three  or  twenty- 


of  George  W.  Felts  9 

four  years,"  thinking  that  the  question  was  how  long  since  he 
had  hved  there.  There  were  many  of  these  discrepancies  show- 
ing that  he  did  not  understand,  but  none  of  them  of  any  par- 
ticular value  for  the  State's  attorney's  purpose.  In  fact  not 
being  famihar  with  his  life,  he  did  not  perceive  these  mistakes, 
but  they  showed  to  us  that  the  only  way  to  communicate  with 
him,  to  give  him  a  chance  to  defend  himself  would  be  by  writ- 
ing or  printing,  and  that  is  the  established  legal  way.  The 
court  was  never  stopped  in  his  interest  and  none  of  his  friends 
knew  that  they  would  dare  to  protest  against  the  course  of  the 
proceedings.  He  was  in  great  distress  of  mind  not  to  know 
what  the  witnesses  were  saying,  but  he  thought  as  we  did  that 
he  was  suffering  the  inevitable  result  of  deafness.  Every  one 
of  his  friends  were  so  exercised  over  the  cruel  method  of  the 
trial  that  they  could  scarcely  eat  or  sleep,  but  we  supposed  that 
it  was  according  to  the  law  of  the  state.  In  a  word,  we  sat 
there  during  that  trial,  and  knew  that  a  great  wrong  was  being 
done,  but  wc  did  not  know  that  the  State  of  Illinois  had  no  law 
permitting  this  kind  of  a  trial  in  her  courts.  The  established 
authorities  show  that  a  trial  where  the  accused  does  not  know 
the  proceedings  is  no  trial  at  all.  We  believe  that  George 
W.  Felts  is  just  as  illegally  imprisoned  as  though  he  had  been 
kidnapped  by  a  bandit  and  held  for  ransom  in  a  mountain 
cavern.  We  did  not  know  the  rights  of  an  accused  citizen  who 
is  bereft  of  the  sense  of  hearing,  but  we  do  know  a  little  more 
now  than  we  did  then,  and  we  are  so  astonished  at  the  ignor- 
ance of  .some  who  pose  as  learned  in  the  law,  that  we  are  think- 
ing of  starting  a  "  People's  Law  School  and  Constitutional 
League,"  a  sort  of  Grand  Army  of  Peace,  where  the  people 
can  learn  their  rights  and  obligations,  and  liow  to  maintain 
them.  It  is  surprising  what  a  company  of  people  there  arc 
who  are  as  ignorant  as  we  are.  I  have,  however,  given  the 
last  two  years  to  the  careful  study  of  the  law  of  Illinois,  and  of 
the  United  States,  especially  with  reference  to  the  rights  of 
the  citizen  who  cannot  hear,  and  I  am  prepared  to  teach  a  few 
other  things.   Wlien  you  read  the  following  appeal  of  George  W. 


10  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

Felts,  you  will  wonder  whether  this  is  a  land  of  "  equal  rights 
and  equal  protection  "  as  the  Constitution  of  the  United  State:> 
provides : 

To  All  Good  Citizens  Who  Believe  in  a  Square  Deal : 

I  am  a  veteran  of  the  Civil  War,  a  member  of  Co.  H, 
74th  111.  Volunteers.  I  lost  my  hearing  in  the  service  of 
my  Country.  Because  I  am  deaf,  three  men  undertook  to 
amuse  themselves  with  me  in  the  dark.  One  of  these  men 
tried  to  trip  me  up  as  I  passed  him;  another,  a  very  strong 
man,  grabbed  me  by  the  back  of  the  neck,  bent  me  dow^n  so 
suddenly,  and  with  such  force,  that  he  sprained  my  neck, 
and  nearly  broke  it.  Just  then  another  man  came  up  to  my 
back.  It  was  so  dark  that  I  could  not  see  who  any  of  them 
were.  I  am  deaf,  and  heard  nothing.  I  did  my  best  to  get 
loose,  but  could  not  do  it.  Fearing  it  might  be  a  serious 
hold-up,  I  tried  to  prick  the  man  in  the  leg  with  my  knife 
to  warn  him  to  let  go  of  my  neck.  Just  as  I  put  my  hand 
back  he  came  under  me  with  his  knee,  to  kick  me  forward. 
He  did  so  with  such  force  that  I  was  obliged  to  run  about 
ten  feet  before  I  could  stop.  Then  I  went  on,  not  knowing 
that  any  one  was  hurt  but  myself. 

I  was  charged  with  cutting  this  man.  He  bled  to  death 
from  a  wound  that  the  doctor  said  was  a  direct  stab,  an 
inch  and  a  third  wide.  This  was  his  statement  under  oath 
on  the  witness  stand,  as  the  record  shows.  The  fact  that  I 
did  not  feel  my  knife  touch  the  man,  and  that  it  was  an 
old  pocketknife,  that  would  not  have  made  a  stab  more  than 
half  an  inch  wide,  makes  me  think  that  some  one  else  did 
the  deed  while  he  was  on  me  in  the  dark.  If  my  knife  did 
the  deed,  it  was  an  accident,  caused  by  the  change  of  his 
position,  when  he  came  under  me  with  his  knee,  to  kick  me 
from  him.  I  acted  in  self-defense,  and  I  did  not  know^  who 
it  was,  so  that  there  could  have  been  no  malice  and  no  mo- 
tive, so  far  as  I  am  concerned. 

The  man  proved  to  be  Spencer  Post,  a  particular  friend 
of  mine,  with  whom  I  had  never  had  any  trouble.  The  two 
men  who  were  associated  with  him  in  amusing  themselves 
by  frightening  a  deaf  old  man  in  the  dark,  perjured  them- 
selves on  the  witness  stand  to  convict  me;  not  that  they 
had  anything  against  me,  but  for  fear  they  would  be  impli- 
cated.    I  believe,  however,   from  information   that  I  have 


_. 


of  George  W-  Felts  11 

received,  that  the  venomous  falsehoods  in  the  State's  Attor- 
ney's closing  speech  was  the  direct  cause  of  the  jury's 
action  in  condemning  me. 

I  was  left  in  jail  suffering  from  a  bruised  and  sprained 
neck,  while  the  two  men  who  had  joined  in  the  assault  on 
me  were  allowed  to  be  present  at  the  coroner's  inquest  and 
swear  falsely  against  me.  If  I  could  have  been  there,  as  I 
had  a  legal  right  to  be,  and  had  shown  the  condition  of  my 
neck,  and  had  made  my  statement,  I  think  the  people  would 
have  believed  mc,  for  I  have  had  the  reputation  of  speaking 
the  truth  from  my  childhood. 

Although  I  am  a  deaf  man,  as  the  court  record  shows, 
no  sympathy  was  shown  for  my  infirmity,  and  no  allowance 
made  for  my  lack  of  understanding  because  of  this  defect ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  my  deafness  was  used  as  a  pretext 
for  withholding  from  me  all  the  rights  of  an  accused  person. 

None  of  the  proceedings  were  communicated  to  me  dur- 
ing the  progress  of  my  trial,  until  the  verdict  was  brought 
in.  I  never  knew  that  the  evidence  about  the  condition  of 
my  neck,  that  would  have  corroborated  my  statement,  was 
left  out,  until  after  the  trial  was  over. 

J  now  know  that  a  deaf  person  has  as  good  a  right  as 
any  one  else  to  be  informed  of  the  details  of  his  trial  as  the 
case  progresses.  I  also  know,  by  sad  e.xperience,  that  it 
is  an  awful  thing  to  be  tried  for  one's  life,  and  see  accusers 
come  and  go,  and  not  be  able  to  hear  one  word,  and  to  have 
no  chance  to  meet  the  witnesses  in  a  way  that  makes  it 
possible  to  refute  them. 

I  appeal  from  my  prison  cell  (to  which  I  am  condemned 
for  life  for  defending  myself  in  the  darkness  against  three 
men)  to  every  citizen,  from  the  humblest  voter  to  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States,  to  protest  against  the  inhuman- 
ity, and  the  injustice,  of  trying  an  accused  person  without 
letting  him  know  the  proceedings  as  his  trial  progresses. 

I  was  unable  to  have  my  case  reviewed  by  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State,  because  I  could  not  pay  the  $700.00 
recjuired  for  the  Record  of  my  trial  within  the  ninety  days 
allowed  for  taking  out  the  bill  of  exceptions. 

Hon.  W.  E.  Mason  of  Chicago  has  generously  contrib- 
uted his  services,  and  will  take  my  case  before  the  Board  of 
Pardons. 

Remember  that  I  am  old  and  deaf,  and  that  I  never 
willingly  harmed  any  one.  GEORGE  W.  FELTS. 


12  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

We  have  abundant  evidence  that  this  statement  of  his 
case  from  the  beginning  is  true ;  but  had  he  been  a  confirmed 
criminal  of  the  deepest  depravit}',  he  had  a  right  to  know  the 
proceedings  of  the  Court  as  the  trial  progressed.  No  deaf  man, 
and  no  foreigner,  who  is  ignorant  of  the  English  language, 
can  have  a  legal  trial  in  the  United  States,  unless  the  details 
of  the  proceedings  be  interpreted  to  the  accused  while  the  trial 
is  in  progress. 

We  have  often  been  asked,  "  Why  did  you  permit  such  an 
outrage?"    I  repeat  we  did  not  know  the  rights  of  the  accused 
under  the  statutes  of  Illinois,  and  knew  nothing  of  the  court 
practice.     Mr.  Wiseman  has  been  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel, 
ever  since  he  left  the  university,  and  like  many  other  men  has 
been  too  busy  to  help  administer  the  laws,  if  he  had  a  chance. 
He  knew  enough  about  justice,  but  very  little  about  court  prac- 
tice, and  what  little  I  know  about  it  I  had  forgotten,  so  it  was 
of  no  use  except  to  bring  a   dim   remembrance  of  different 
methods  in  the  ancient  time  of  which  I  had  read.     My  first 
husband,  ]\Ir.  Fletcher,  lost  his  health  in  the  war  for  the  Union. 
He  had  been  my  teacher  in  my  childhood.     After  the  war  he 
completed  his  law  studies  in  Chicago,  and  was  a  member  of 
the  bar  in  Rockford,  Illinois  for  one  year.    Because  of  his  frail 
and  failing  health  I  helped  him,  and  read  law,  in  a  way,  myself 
but  I  was  chiefly  interested  in  the  history  and  philosophy  of 
the  law.     Such  reading  always   had  a  charm   for  me.     But 
strange  as  it  may  seem  I  had  never  been  in  a  court  room  when 
a  trial  was  in  progress  in  my  life.     I  knew  absolutely  nothing 
of  court  practice,  when  I  was  summoned  by  telegraph  to  come 
to  the  assistance  of  this  old  deaf  soldier  brother,  who  had  been 
intercepted  in  the  darkness  by  three  men,  and  was  arrested, 
charged   with   cutting  one   of   them,   who  afterward   bled   to 
death  from  an  artery  that  had  been  severed  in  the  lower  part 
of  his  body.    As  he  tells  you  he  is  so  deaf  that  he  cannot  hear, 
and  as  there  was  no  moon,  and  no  lights  in  the  streets  or 
windows,  he  was  not  only  in  the  dark,  but  necessarily  in  total 
ignorance,  as  to  the  identity  of  the  three  men  who,  as  he  told 


of  George  W.  Felts  13 

the  marshal  immediately  after  the  affair,  ''  would  not  let  him 
pass  the  corner." 

It  is  plain  that  he  could  not  have  known  who  it  was  in 
that  moonless,  midnight  hour,  with  not  a  light  in  the  streets, 
or  the  windows,  and  they  under  the  shadow  of  the  awning.  A 
person  with  good  eyes  could  not  have  recognized  anyone. 
Xeither  could  he  have  known  that  Post  would  have  remained 
nearly  an  hour  after  the  lights  were  out  hiding  under  an  awn- 
ing, and  if  he  had  happened  to  think  of  Post  at  all  he  would 
naturally  suppose  that  he  was  at  home,  probably,  in  bed.  The 
men  who  were  under  the  awning  said  that  they,  *'  could  see 
out  better  than  he  could  see  in,  and  that  there  was  no  moon 
and  no  light."  They  were  each  a  little  more  than  forty  years 
of  age,  while  he  was  past  sixty  and  his  eyes  defective. 

Twelve  persons  who  saw  Felts  soon  after  he  was  taken  to 
the  jail,  knew  of  the  injured  condition  of  his  neck,  and  believe 
that  he  is  an  innocent  and  greatly-wronged  man.  Xo  one  can  be 
found  who  believes  that  the  deaf  old  soldier  intended  to  kill 
anyone  or  that  he  could  know  who  anyone  of  the  three  men 
were  in  the  dark,  but  the  State's  attorney  must  make  them 
believe  it.  He  must  have  that  twenty  dollars  for  convicting 
the  man,  to  say  nothing  about  his  great  need  of  doing  some- 
thing while  he  held  the  ofhce,  which  could  not  hold  him,  he 
being  compelled  to  be  "  persecuting  "  attorney,  star  witness, 
and  board  of  pardons  combined,  at  intervals,  to  say  nothing, 
of  inspiring  the  press  with  the  belief,  that  the  higher  courts 
sustained  him  in  taking  a  deaf  man  through  his  trial  and  not 
communicating  the  proceedings  to  him. 

Many  people  who  saw  this  statement  as  reported  from  him. 
in  the  papers  believe  it  now,  zchilc  the  truth  is  that  every  one  of 
the  judges  stood  with  us,  and  hold  that  all  the  proceedings 
should  be  communicated  to  the  deaf  ivhen  on  trial,  and  while 
they  refused  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  they  simply  notified  us 
that  our  remedy  is  a  writ  of  error,  but  they  in  no  sense  ap- 
proved of  the  injustice  shown  to  this  deaf  old  man. 


14  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

The  great  occasion  of  his  Hfe  had  come.  Here  was  a  man 
who  could  not  hear  a  word  that  he  said.  He  was  old  and  sick 
and  deaf,  his  wife  had  taken  all  his  property,  and  he  was  too 
old  to  earn  any  more,  and  it  would  be  easy  to  get  up  a  con- 
spiracy and  get  his  pension  away  from  him,  if  he  was  put  into 
prison.  Did  ever  State's  Attorney  have  such  a  hue  opportunity 
before?  No  sane  man  living  can  believe  that  a  decrepit  o\\ 
man,  suffering  from  rheumatism,  and  heart  disease,  and  too 
deaf  to  converse  without  the  aid  of  an  eartube,  would  deliber- 
ately seek  out  the  strongest  man  in  the  county,"  and  stic";; 
a  small  pocket  knife  into  the  lower  part  of  his  body.  But  the 
State's  Attorney  must  make  them  believe  it.  The  record  shows 
that  there  was  no  moon,  and  no  lights  in  the  streets  or  in  the 
windows,  and  that  the  old  man  could  not  see  much  better  than 
he  could  hear,  and  no  sane  person  can  believe  that  he  could 
know  who  anyone  of  several  men  was.  who,  if  seen  at  all, 
would  seem  to  good  eyes,  only  like  shadows  in  the  darkness. 
Yet  the  State's  Attorney  must  make  them  believe  it.  The 
deaf,  old  soldier's  story  was  straightforward  and  reasonable, 
and  those  who  heard  him  tell  it  in  Rockford  on  the  witness 
stand  believed  it  by  the  scores  and  hundreds,  and  they  told  us 
so  when  we  went  to  them  with  our  ])etition,  and  that  they 
would  have  signed  for  his  ])ardon  the  day  after  his  conviction 
if  we  had  gone  to  them  with  our  i)etition.  lUit  the  State's 
Attorney  told  the  jury  in  his  closing  speech,  with  great  vim, 
and  fury,  and  gesticulation,  that  there  was  **  not  a  word  of  truth 
ill  the  old  ))imi's  statoiicnt,"  and  that  the  attorney  for  the  de- 
fense "  had  made  it  up  and  taui^ht  it  to  the  defendant."  They 
naturally  did  not  think  it  possible,  that  a  state  officer  would 
speak  falsely  upon  such  a  solemn  occasion,  when  the  life  of 
a  human  being  was  at  stake.  One  of  the  noblest  men  in  the 
state,  who  has  had  great  experience  at  the  bar,  and  is  retired  told 
me  that  he  knew  nothing  more  destructive  to  the  moral  nature, 
and  the  humane  sympathies,  than  for  a  man  to  be  a  State's 
attorney  when  he  regarded  success  rather  than  justice.  I  can 
readily  see  that  some  natures  should  be  shielded  from  undue 


of  George  W.  Felts  15 

temptation,  and  certainly  this  State's  attorney  should  be  pro- 
tected against  himself. 

The  truth  is  that  the  defense  of  George  W.  Felts,  as  it 
appears  in  the  record,  and  his  statement  of  the  whole  affair, 
will  be  known  for  the  first  time  to  the  people  when  they  read 
this  book.  Last  I'ebruary  he  asked  me  to  publish  his  version 
of  the  aflfair  and  see  that  the  people  understood  it.  I  waited 
however  until  we  had  exhausted  every  effort  in  trying  to  get 
a  new  trial.  I  had  his  appeal,  including  his  statement,  printed 
last  summer  but  sent  out  only  a  few  copies,  as  I  hoped  to  get 
him  released  and  take  him  to  our  home  in  Des  Moines,  and 
get  out  of  the  contention.  Owing  to  the  persecution  of  this 
suffering  prisoner  by  the  State's  attorney,  in  his  effort  to  pre- 
vent the  truth  from  being  known  we  have  been  so  delayed, 
that  we  have  been  compelled  to  abandon  our  home,  and  take 
up  our  residence  in  Rockford,  which  however  is  a  pleasing 
prospect  for  many  reasons.  We  have  thousands  of  friends 
in  this  lovely  city,  and  many  relatives  in  this  vicinity,  and  I 
personally  knew  the  ])ionecr  families  of  the  whole  county 
when  I  was  young  and  care  free.  It  will  not  surprise  those 
who  know  mc,  that  though  in  tears  and  sorrow,  I  gave  up  my 
beloved  brother  to  the  service  of  Iiis  country  in  his  youth,  that 
I  feel  doubly  resixmsible  for  him.  when  I  know  how  dreadfully 
he  has  been  handicapped  in  the  struggle  for  life,  on  account 
of  his  infirmity  of  deafness,  brought  upon  him  by  that  service, 
and  that  I  can  do  no  less  than  to  lay  on  the  altar  of  sacrifice, 
reputation,  and  means,  and  time,  and  whatever  happens  to  me 
I  shall' vindicate  him  and  help  to  fight  his  battles  against  injus- 
tice and  inhumanity.  If  he  was  not  related  to  me  at  all,  and 
I  knew  the  case  just  as  I  do  know  it,  and  knew  his  infirmity  as  I 
do  know  it,  I  am  fully  convinced  that  I  could  not  conscientiously 
relax  my  efforts  in  his  behalf.  I  think  too  much  of  my  country 
to  be  willing  to  let  any  citizen  be  robbed  of  his  rights  under 
the  constitution  and  the  laws. 

The  State's  attorney,  after  repeating  many  false  rumors 
before  the  board  of  pardons,  asserted  that  the  old   soldier's 


16  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

''  pension  is  not  going  to  his  family."  The  truth  is  he  has  no 
family  dependent  upon  him.  He  has  two  children  both  past 
twenty-one  and  one  of  them  long  since  married.  His  wife 
after  telling  me  that  she  believed  that  "  he  told  the  truth  about 
that  fatal  night  when  he  was  arrested,"  and  that  "  he  thought 
more  of  Post  than  of  anyone,  and  would  not  have  hurt  him  if 
he  had  known  who  he  was,"  then  said  she  was,  "  not  going 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  trial."  She  went  on  to  sa> 
that  she,  "  had  nothing  against  him  but  that  they  had  been 
separated  for  about  ten  years.".  Her  grievance  was  that, 
"  He  would  not  go  and  live  in  the  soldier's  home  and 
turn  his  pension  over  to  her.  If  he  had  done  so  this  would 
never  have  happened  to  him."  She  also  said,  that  '*  He  never 
refused  any  of  them  anything  "  and  that  *'  He  always  was  a 
fool  about  that."  I  said  you  know  that  he  earned  and  gave 
all  this  property  to  you  expecting  it  would  be  your  mutual 
home.  '*  I  know  he  did,"  she  said,  "  but  the  title  is  in  my  name 
and  the  lawyers  won't  get  it."  I  found  she  had  openly  repudi- 
ated him  and  that  she  freely  said  so.  In  fact  it  is  generally 
known  that  she  cast  him  off  when  this  calamity  came  upon  him, 
and  she  told  me  as  coolly  as  though  she  were  talking  of  a 
hired  man  that  he  had  been  boarding  with  her. 

I  found  that  he  had  been  paying  his  board  in  his  own 
house  out  of  his  pension,  and  in  addition  to  that  had  also 
brought  in  all  the  supplies  he  could,  and  suffering  with  rheu- 
matism as  he  was,  in  his  hands  and  limbs,  and  at  times  seri- 
ously with  heart  disease,  he  undertook  to  trim  the  branches 
of  trees,  offered  to  him  by  the  men  who  were  clearing  oft*  a 
body  of  timber.  He  worked  in  this  condition  through  the 
summer  heat,  when  he  would  often  have  to  lie  down  on  the 
ground  and  rest  on  account  of  the  sudden  giving  out  of  his 
heart.  He  went  to  the  woods  day  after  day  when  he  could 
hardly  walk,  generously  getting  fuel  for  the  home  where  he 
was  no  longer  welcome.  He  was  deaf  and  old  and  did  not 
want  to  go  among  strangers.  Men  who  sympathized  with 
him  in  his  hard  toil,  offered  to  make  a  bee,  and  draw  the  wood 


of  George  W.  Felts  17 

to  the  house  for  him.  There  would  be  ten  loads  of  it  and  they 
were  offering  to  draw  it  free  some  Sunday  as  they  had  no 
other  time.  He  hesitated  to  have  it  done  on  Sunday,  but  see- 
ing that  they  meant  it  as  a  charitable  service,  he  consented 
to  have  them  do  it,  and  thought  they  would  want  to  complete 
arrangements  Saturday  night,  but  looked  in  vain  for  them,  as 
they  were  too  tired  to  go  to  town  and  thought  some  other  time 
would  do.  He  was  searching  for  these  men,  as  was  proven 
by  many  witnesses,  but  the  State's  attorney  ridiculed  this 
honest  struggle,  of  this  almost  helpless,  deaf,  old  soldier  to 
furnish  supplies  to  his  home,  and  insulted  the  good  Samar- 
itans who  were  in  earnest  in  their  desire  to  help  him,  and 
slandered  them  all  by  the  pretence  that  it  was  to  be  a  beer 
drinking  bee.  There  is  many  an  honest  truthful  man  who 
sometimes  takes  a  drink  of  beer,  men  who  would  not  consent 
to  fraternize  with  a  man  who  by  falsehood  and  slander  seeks  the 
life  of  a  fellow-man  merely  for  his  own  aggrandizement.  A 
man,  who  before  tlie  board  of  pardons,  hopes  to  make  legal 
a  wholly  unjust  trial  by  vile  slander,  introducing  sub- 
jects no  way  pertaining  to  the  case.  Think  of  this  false  and 
inhuman  State's  Attorney  telling  the  board  of  pardons  that 
the  wife  of  Felts  '*  earned  his  property."  He  knows  more 
about  it  than  the  wife  <loes  herself.  It  is  true  she  cast  her  hus- 
band off,  and  during  the  trial,  not  only  did  not  help  him  by  so 
much  as  sending  him  one  word  of  sympathy,  nor  to  the  present 
hour  has  seen  him  nor  written  one  word  to  him  in  all  the  two 
years  and  a  half  since  he  was  arrested,  but  with  the  assistance 
of  the  State's  attorney,  she  has  also  tried  to  get  his  pension  di- 
verted to  her  and  yet,  in  her  affidavit  to  the  pension  depart- 
ment she  makes  oath  as  to  the  property  tliLt  "  when  lie  js^ot  it 
paid  for  he  deeded  it  to  me."  She  also  swears,  '*  I  do  not  know 
why  he  did  it."  We  all  know  why  he  did  it,  because  of  his 
generous  heart  that  never  allowed  him  to  ''  refuse  one  of  them 
anything."  It  never  occurred  to  him  that  there  would  come 
a  time  when  she  would  take  advantage  of  his  generosity.  It 
was  his  boast  that  he  turned  over  his  monev  to  his  wife.     It 


18  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

was  also  her  frequent  assertion.  If  those  men  who  exult 
so  indecently  over  the  suffering  of  the  old  deaf  soldier  had 
either  of  them  a  wife  who  took  all  his  property,  that  rep- 
resented, not  only  the  pension  granted  for  honorable  service, 
in  which  he  almost  lost  his  life,  and  did  lose  his  hearing,  and 
years  of  the  hardest  kind  of  work,  and  then,  after  getting  his 
property,  demanded,  in  his  old  age,  that  in  future  the  pension 
should  be  turned  over  to  her,  and  he  proceed  to  a  charitable 
institution  to  stay  the  rest  of  his  life,  because  he  could  no  longer 
work  incessantly  at  the  hardest  kind  of  toil,  would  he  have  been 
as  lenient  as  George  Felts  was,  and  still  stay,  and  pay  his  board 
in  his  own  house,  and  toil  at  cutting  wood  to  supply  the  home, 
where  he  was  no  longer  welcome?  Brethren  there  is  a  just 
God  who  can  overrule  the  wrath  of  men,  and  who  has  also  re- 
served to  himself  the  issues  of  vengeance.  **  Vengeance  is 
mine  saith  the  Lord,  I  will  repay."  For  that  reason  I  would 
not  seek  to  be  the  instrument  of  vengeance.  In  the  olden  time 
the  wise  and  the  good  looked  upon  the  deaf  and  the  blind,  as 
under  the  especial  care  of  God,  and  those  who  harmed  them 
were  believed  to  suffer  avenging  judgment  from  God.  This 
however  will  not  appeal  to  those  who  ignore  both  God  and 
righteousness  in  their  dealings  with  their  fellow-men. 

This  is  the  first  time  in  my  life  that  I  have  known  people 
to  combine  against  a  deaf  or  a  blind  man,  and  that  this  is  ex- 
ceptional will  appeal  to  all  right-minded  persons. 

George  W.  Felts  could  have  had  a  pension  long  before 
he  received  it,  for  the  loss  of  the  hearing  of  one  ear,  even 
though  the  other  was  almost  entirely  normal  for  a  long  time 
after  he  regained  his  health,  but  he  never  would  apply  until 
the  good  ear  as  he  called  it  had  almost  failed,  and  then  I  per- 
suaded him  to  do  it,  on  account  of  his  little  family,  and  his 
poor  health  and  desperate  struggle  to  get  along.  I  gave  him 
money  to  pay  pension  fees  myself,  and  while  he  was  struggling 
to  get  along  without  it  helped  him  at  times  financially.  At  one 
time  I  gave  him  two  hundred  dollars  so  he  could  straighten  up 
all  his  debts,  after  he  had  lost  everything  in  a  hotel  venture. 


of  George  W.  Felts  19 

which  lie  undertook  with  the  idea  of  pleasing  his  wife,  who 
having  been  raised  in  a  boarding  house,  seemed  not  to  be  con- 
tented away  from  such  surroundings.  His  wife  told  me  I  am 
the  only  one  on  either  side  who  ever  gave  them  any  assistance. 
I  did  not  help  them  very  much,  because  he  was  too  proud- 
spirited to  receive  it,  and  he  always  called  it  a  debt,  and  so  did 
she,  and  said  they  would  pay  me  sometime.  She  paid  me  by 
keeping  all  of  his  property  and  letting  the  whole  sorrowful 
burden  of  the  trial  come  upon  me,  and  because  she  had  cast  him 
off,  and  I  thought  it  would  injure  him  and  disgrace  his  family 
to  have  her  mercenary  and  heartless  treatment  of  him  become 
known,  I  did  not  dare  to  avail  myself  as  I  could  have  done 
of  his  lack  of  means,  and  so  secure  an  attorney  to  defend  him. 
free  of  charge  from  the  state.  1  therefore  became  responsible 
for  his  attorney's  fee.  which  amounted  to  $615.00,  and  which, 
I  am  glad  to  state  in  this  book,  he  has  returned  to  me  from  his 
pension  as  he  felt  in  duty  bound  to  do,  as  he  had  selected  the 
law  yer  he  wanted,  and  so  felt  that  he  ought  to  pay  him.  He  has 
constantly  urged  me  not  to  waste  money  trying  to  get  him 
out.  He  has  often  said  '*  I  have  not  long  to  live,  and  you  are 
impoverishing  yourselves."  With  many  such  sayings,  he  has 
tried  to  bear  his  dreadful  martydom  and  shield  us.  I  cheer 
him  up  the  best  I  can  and  tell  him  truly,  that  life  is  not  worth 
much  to  us  while  he  is  in  prison.  We  have  kept  on  more  than 
two  years  doing  what  we  can,  and  we  shall  keep  on.  We  have 
sacrificed  financially  a  considerable  sum  and  all  our  time,  which 
we  do  not  regret,  and  the  friends  of  the  old  soldiers  and  many  of 
the  comrades  helped  to  take  the  Habeas  Corpus  proceedings  be- 
fore the  courts.  While  they  were  generously  helping,  and  thou- 
sands of  the  best  men  and  women  of  the  state  were  looking  anx- 
iously for  his  release  from  prison,  his  wife,  and  her  immediate 
advisers,  with  the  help  of  the  testimony  of  the  State's  attorney, 
undertook,  to  get  his  pension  away  from  him,  and  the  copies 
of  the  perjured  statements  of  some  of  these  persons,  which  the 
pension  department  sent  to  him.  make  fine  reading,  and  in 
themselves  prove  a  conspiracy,  that  reveals  the  whole  situation. 


20  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

and  in  fact  might  take  them  to  prison  for  conspiring  to 
get  money  from  the  government  by  false  representations.  The 
unfortunate  thing  for  these  persons  is,  that  their  affidavits  con- 
tradict each  other  and  in  other  ways  incriminate  them. 

The  State's  attorney,  told  the  board  of  pardons,  that  he 
had  **  represented  Felts  as  his  lawyer  previous  to  this  trial  once 
or  twice."  In  my  reading  of  the  law,  during  the  past  two 
years,  I  saw  the  statement,  that  a  State's  Attorney  who  has 
represented  a  person  as  his  lawyer,  is  in  duty  bound  to  step 
aside,  if  such  person  is  on  trial,  and  appoint  some  lawyer  in 
his  place,  who  has  not  been  thus  associated  with  him.  Is  this 
the  law?  If  not,  it  should  be.  Both  the  State's  attorney  and 
his  partner  joined  in  the  prosecution  of  George  W.  Felts,  and 
both  of  them  have  represented  to  the  board  of  pardons,  that 
as  lawyers,  they  have  been  in  confidential  relations  with  him  as 
client  and  attorney.  Shall  a  professional  man  who  claims 
knowledge  of  another  man  gained  in  the  line  of  his  profession, 
when  said  other  has  sought  him  for  advice  or  assistance,  be 
permitted  to  prove  a  traitor  to  his  rights  in  that  relation  ? 

^lany  times  during  all  the  years  the  wife  praised  her  hus- 
band to  me,  and  often  she  told  how  no  other  woman  of  her 
acquaintance  had  such  a  generous,  faithful,  hard-working,  un- 
complaining husband  as  she  had,  and  then  when  he  lost  his 
health  she  changed,  and  sought  advice  in  Rockford  in  regard 
to  getting  rid  of  her  husband  who  was  no  longer  able  to  work 
hard.  The  following  is  the  advice  she  reported  to  have  been 
given  to  her,  '*  You  have  all  his  property  in  your  name,  and 
now  that  he  is  broken  down,  you  can  compel  him  to  go  to  the 
soldier's  home  and  let  the  government  take  care  of  him,  and 
turn  his  pension  over  to  you.  Then  you  would  be  well  pro- 
vided for.''  "  Her  advisers  "  put  an  idea  into  her  head  that 
they  have  kept  working  until  she  looked  upon  the  possibility 
as  so  desirable  that  she  welcomed  the  State  prison  for  him 
rather  than  to  give  up  the  hope  of  achieving  so  great  a  result. 

George  W.  Felts  raised  a  family  of  three  children,  cloth- 
ing and  feeding  them,  and  educating  them.    The  two  daughters 


of  George  W.  Felts  21 

were  kept  in  school  till  they  were  nearly  twenty,  and  that  means 
a  large  expense  for  all  the  school  supplies  demanded  of  men 
in  these  days.  He  paid  many  doctor  bills.  He  built  a  ten- 
room  house  and  furnished  it ;  and  paid  hired  girls  and  other 
help ;  worked  often  in  his  blacksmith  shop  till  near  midnight ; 
asked  nothing  for  himself,  and  often,  after  I  knew  he  had 
become  a  slave  to  his  family,  1  came  long  distances  to  see  him 
only  to  hear,  **  I  don't  know  how  you  will  get  to  see  George 
unless  you  go  out  to  the  shop,  he  works  till  eleven  or  twelve 
o'clock  most  nights."  It  was  well  known  tliat  he  was  neglected, 
and  that  anything  was  good  enough  for  him.  Is  it  any  wonder 
tliat  he  broke  down  ?  that  his  poor  heart  would  fail  him  ? 
that  his  muscles  were  so  worn  out  that  the  rhmmatir  mnditi. m 
became  worse  and  that  he  was  helpless? 

Those  who  do  not  know  it,  should  know  that  Spencer 
Post  sympathized  with  him  in  all  this  trouble,  that  lie  is  the 
last  one  that  Felts  would  have  thought  would  have  assaulted 
him  in  the  night  and  that  he  would  rather  have  died  than  hurt 
him.  He  knows  that  Post  did  what  he  did  in  fun.  and  if  he 
could  have  known  who  it  was,  there  would  have  been  no 
struggle  to  get  away,  and  no  fear  of  being  hurt  causing  him  to 
use  his  knife.  The  inhumanity  of  those  who  are  persecuting 
him  shall  be  fully  known  and  all  their  falsehoods  exposed ;  but 
I  will  not  waste  the  pages  of  this  book  upon  them. 

No  outlaw  who  has  been  before  the  courts  of  this  country 
has  ever  been  so  persecuted  as  this  deaf  old  soldier  has  by  a 
State's  attorney.  A  man  who  has  worked  hard  all  his  life, 
and  whose  greatest  fault  has  been  that  he  fostered  a  selfish 
and  mercenary  spirit  in  his  family  by  too  great  generosity,  is 
wrongfully  accused  of  a  crime,  and  forthwith  he  becomes  "  un- 
industrious  "  according  to  the  manufactured  testimony  paraded 
before  the  Board  of  Pardons  where  no  one  asked,  or  cared 
to  know,  whether  he  was  or  not.  Men  who  had  drank  up  their 
farms  thought  Felts  should  be  punished  for  putting  his  money 
into  a  home,  instead  of  treating  them  to  drinks  whenever  they 
put  in  an  appearance.    Quite  a  number  of  others  hate  a  soldier 


22  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

anyway,  especially  if  he  gets  a  pension,  because  '*  it  was  his 
own  fault  that  he  went  to  the  war,  and  the  government  paid 
him  thirteen  dollars  a  month."  Some  of  these  never  earned 
an  honest  dollar  in  their  lives.  They  are  fit  tools  for  the  man 
who  controls  them.  To  their  everlasting  shame  be  it  said  that 
a  few  men  perjured  themselves  to  help  the  State's  attorney 
keep  Felts  in  prison.  They  know  nothing  about  the  merits  of 
the  case,  and  know  so  little  of  the  laws  of  the  country  in  which 
they  live,  that  they  think  that  a  mob  spirit  will  appeal  to  the 
enlightened  Christian  gentlemen  who  as  governor  and  board 
of  pardons  of  the  great  State  of  Illinois,  are  bound  by  the  con- 
stitution and  the  laws  of  the  State  and  the  nation  to  consider 
the  case  of  the  prisoner  upon  its  merits,  without  regard  to  the 
opinions  or  the  prejudices  of  the  State's  attorney's  henchmen. 
The  time  will  come  when  these  people  will  perceive,  that  we  are 
fighting  their  battles  at  the  same  time  we  are  almost  perish- 
ing in  our  struggles  to  secure  "  equal  rights,"  and  "  equal  pro- 
tection "  from  those  who  administer  the  law  for  this  deaf  old 
soldier,  who  as  the  people  know  was  taken  through  his  trial 
without  having  any  of  the  proceedings  communicated  to  him 
while  the  trial  was  in  progress.  Such  a  trial  is  the  beginning 
of  the  terrible  tyranny,  once  so  generally  practiced  on  all  men. 
w^ho  were  not  strong  enough  to  compel  justice,  and  the  cropping 
out  of  such  attempts,  ought  to  call  forth  the  protest  of  all 
lovers  of  our  country,  and  that  too,  without  considering 
whether  the  accused  is  guilty  or  innocent,  while  in  this  case 
the  evidence  we  submit  is  conclusive,  that  the  accused  had  no 
thought  of  committing  a  crime  and  acted  as  any  other  man 
would  who  believed  himself  to  be  the  victim  of  a  hold-up.  An 
innocent  man  must  be  maligned  and  persecuted  by  the  verv 
officer  whose  duty  should  have  led  him  to  find  out  the  truth 
and  acknowledge  it  before  the  preliminary  trial.  This  *'  perse- 
cuting "attorney,  and  his  fellow  slanderers,  against  the  frame  of 
a  man,  who  is  every  way  their  superior  in  moral  character 
and  humane  sympathies,  never  knew  what  hard  toil  was  com- 
pared to  what  George  W.  Felts  has  endured.     Think  of  this 


of  George  W.  Felts  23 

infirm  old  man  cutting  ten  cords  of  wood  in  the  hot  weather. 
Yet  the  jury  is  told  that  Felts  '*  is  an  idle  man."  Who  is  Felts 
anyway?  Nobody  but  a  broken  down  old  blacksmith.  He  is 
at  least  an  average  man,  industrious,  truthful,  honest  and  gen- 
erous. He  is  a  patriotic,  typical  American  of  the  old  colonial  and 
Revolutionary  stock.  He  is  of  the  same  lineage  as  the  mother 
of  Washington,  through  his  mother ;  also,  General  Daniel  Mor- 
gan of  the  Virginia  rifles  was  one  of  his  ancestors.  Alas,  he 
was  a  blacksmith  too.  Another  ancestor  was  General  William 
Campbell  known  to  history  as  the  hero  of  King's  mountain. 
Then  another  was  William  Ball,  ensign  of  the  Sixth  \'irginia. 
from  the  time  he  was  fifteen,  till  the  close  of  tlie  war.  These 
were  among  his  mother's  ancestors. 

On  his  father's  side  were  Major  Anthony  Sharpe,  Colonel 
John  Collier,  Colonel  John  Oliver  and  his  son  Elijah  Oliver, 
North  Carolina  soldiers  in  the  Revolution,  and  Sergeant  Isham 
Felts,  of  the  Virginia  Rifles.  All  these  and  some  of  their  sons 
did  valiant  service  in  the  great  war  for  independence,  that 
made  this  Republic  possible,  and  gave  us  that  wonderful 
charter  of  liberty  and  righteous  government,  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  that  Supreme  Law  of  the  Land,  which 
Gladstone  declared,  "  Is  the  greatest  piece  of  work  that  ever 
sprang  from  the  brain  of  man. 

We  also  can  furnish  prooi  mat  every  branch  of  the  an- 
cestors of  George  W.  Felts  were  active  in  the  organization  of 
the  prominent  religious  societies  from  the  early  days  of  the 
country. 

His  immediate  ancestors  were  Elijah  Felts  and  Elsie  Ball. 
They  were  both  raised  in  religious  families,  and  were  religious 
themselves,  and  family  worship  was  as  much  a  part  of  their 
daily  life  as  food  or  sleep  during  his  boyhood.  He  was  taught 
to  believe  in  religion,  education,  patriotism,  and  every  good 
principle.  His  father  and  mother  heartily  encouraged  and 
helped  in  the  building  of  the  first  schools  and  churches,  and 
helped  to  organize  the  first  Washingtonian  Temperance  soci- 
eties  in    Illinois,     Their   home  became   the    resting-place   of 


24  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

teachers,  preachers,  and  missionaries,  whatever  denomination 
they  might  be  representing,  without  money  and  without  price. 
Many  meetings  were  held  in  the  big  room  of  the  pioneer  dwell- 
ing. Thus  the  very  best  society  was  brought  to  him  and  he 
felt  that  in  his  small  way,  he  was  taking  part  in  every  good 
enterprise.  His  father  was  a  Whig  in  politics.  He  was  among 
those  who  helped  to  organize  the  Republican  party,  and  he 
raised  all  of  his  children  in  that  political  faith.  The  New  York 
Tribune  was  his  political  text  book  and  it  was  kept  on  file  and 
all  were  kept  informed  on  current  news,  and  public  questions. 

George  is  the  sixth  child  of  a  family  of  fourteen  children. 
Eleven  are  still  living.  He  has  also  about  fifty  families  of 
cousins,  second  cousins  and  other  relatives  in  and  around  Rock- 
ford,  the  most  of  them  in  Winnebago  county,  and  they  arc 
among  the  best  citizens.  Not  one  of  them  has  ever  been 
arrested  to  my  knowledge.  They  believe  he  tells  the  truth, 
about  his  experience  on  that  fatal  night,  and  many  of  them 
offer  him  a  home  with  them  when  he  shall  be  freed.  They  all 
know  that  he  has  been  deaf  for  many  years.  They  also  know 
that  he  is  naturally  a  man  of  the  kindest  heart.  His  father 
used  to  say,  *'  He  is  his  mother's  boy."  He  was  like  her  in 
appearance  and  in  disposition.  He  was  patient,  kind,  tender- 
hearted, forbearing  and  brave.  I  often  knew  him  to  accept 
punishment  for  the  mischief  done  by  others  rather  than  to  tell. 
Once  when  I  begged  him  to  tell  on  the  other  boys,  as  I  hap- 
pened to  know  he  was  not  the  one  to  blame,  he  said,  "  I  can 
stand  it.  I'd  just  as  soon  take  a  licking  as  to  hear  the  other  fel- 
lows acrying."  I  remember  him  as  a  sturdy,  rosy,  black-eyed  boy, 
who  never  complained  that  he  had  the  hardest  task,  which  was 
often  the  case,  in  the  multitude  of  duties  about  the  farm. 
There  was  always  enough  to  do  and  he  was  stout  and  willing. 
His  father  and  mother  were  not  only  pioneers  in  building  a 
home  in  W^innebago  county,  and  in  helping  to  establish  schools 
and  churches,  but  I  believe  they  were  the  first  to  plant  an 
orchard.  It  began  to  bear  when  he  was  a  small  boy,  and  the 
glory  of  the  blossoms  in  tbe  spring,  and  his  wonder  and  dc- 


of  George  W.  Felts  25 

light  as  the  fruit  matured  and  he  was  permitted  to  help  to 
gather  it,  are  vividly  remembered.  There  are  hundreds  of 
instances  that  we  all  can  tell  of  his  unselfishness,  and  his  gen- 
erosity, during  his  youth  and  manhood.  He  was  very  bright 
and  manly  but  his  education  was  neglected  more  or  less,  after 
he  was  twelve  years  of  age,  because  there  was  so  much  to  do 
at  home.  He  was  so  practical  and  helpful  that  he  was  always 
needed.  A  blacksmith  was  employed  to  start  a  little  shop  on 
the  farm,  and  when  George  was  thirteen  years  old  he  began 
to  learn  his  trade,  by  working  nights  and  Saturdays.  He  was 
kept  out  of  school  for  a  long  time  to  help  clear  off  a  large 
body  of  timber  and  because  of  this  work  had  the  promise 
of  his  father  to  be  sent  to  college  when  he  was  eighteen  years 
old.  Before  tliat  time  the  war  began  and  from  the  first  lie 
thought  tliat  he  ought  to  go.  He  tried  to  enlist  several  times 
but  his  father  interfered  and  kept  him  from  going  till  he  was 
eighteen  years  of  age.  He  was  eighteen  the  seventh  of  July. 
1862,  and  enlisted  the  first  op{)ortunity  afterward,  August 
ninth.  Older  men  have  gone  to  the  defense  of  their  coun- 
try for  various  reasons,  but  most  of  tlie  boys  of  his  age,  went 
because  they  were  patriotic,  and  considered  it  noble  to  fight 
and  to  die  for  their  country.  1  know  from  many  things  that 
George  said  that  he  was  an  unselfish  true-hearted  patriot.  To 
be  tall  enough  and  old  enough,  to  be  accepted  as  a  volunteer 
in  the  service  of  his  country,  in  its  hour  of  peril,  seemed  to 
him  a  glorious  opportunity.  No  one  so  young  as  he  ought  to 
have  gone,  and  this  nation  sacrificed  many  of  its  school  boys, 
while  strong  men  stayed  at  home  who  should  have  gone.  1 
saw  the  74tli  regiment  of  Illinois  volunteers  at  Rockford  as  it 
marched  to  the  train  that  bore  it  toward  the  scene  of  conflict 
and  many  remarked  that  the  majority  seemed  mere  boys.  They 
were  glorious  boys  however,  and  to  them  belongs  the  high 
lionor  of  redeeming  the  republic,  and  enabling  our  martyred 
Lincoln  to  wipe  out  the  crime  of  slavery.  Not  that  I  would 
detract  from  the  patriotism  and  the  courage  of  the  older  men 


26  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

in  the  ranks,  but  they  have  been  the  first  to  say,  "  Without  the 
boys  we  could  not  have  put  down  the  Rebelhon." 

The  unparalleled  persecution  of  George  W.  Felts  by  the 
State's  attorney  will  necessarily  occupy  a  large  part  of  our 
attention,  not  that  we  wish  to  speak  of  it  for  it  is  a  most  dis- 
agreeable duty.  Why  he  should  have  gone  out  of  his  way  to 
detract  from  the  honorable  soldier  record  of  George  W.  Felts 
is  a  mystery.  Why  he  should  have  told  any  of  the  many  un- 
true things  he  has  is  surprising  to  those  who  have  not  studied 
his  methods  in  other  cases.  He  began  by  asking  every  pro- 
spective juror,  whether  he  had  any  relatives  in  the  civil  war. 
What  had  that  to  do  with  a  jurors  fitness  or  unfitness?  Then 
when  he  came  before  the  jury  with  the  astonishing  stream  of 
falsehood  which  he  poured  forth  in  his  closing  speech,  he  be- 
littled that  soldier  record,  declaring  that  he  was  not  a  good 
soldier  and  by  sneering  insinuations  tried  to  make  the  jury 
believe  that  he  was  a  fraudulent  wretch  and  scoundrel  from 
his  boyhood.  The  deaf  old  soldier  did  not  hear  one  word  that 
he  said  as  he  sought  to  compel  the  jury  to  believe  that  he 
should  have  no  sympathy  shown  to  him  because  of  his  being 
deaf.  He  paid  little  or  no  attention  to  the  evidence,  and  im- 
agined that  the  only  way  to  renown  was  by  bold  and  furious 
falsehood.  Clearly  he  saw  that  it  would  trouble  the  people  to 
see  him  hand  a  veteran  of  the  Civil  war,  over  to  the  gallows 
for  possibly  wielding  an  old  pocket  knife  in  defending  himself 
against  three  men  in  the  midnight  darkness,  unless  he  could 
make  them  believe  that  said  soldier  had  no  record.  The  stat- 
utes of  Illinois  specify  the  duties  of  the  State's  attorney  and 
provide,  not  only  that  he  shall  secure  the  rights  of  the  accused, 
but  that  he  shall  not  go  outside  of  the  evidence,  and  slander  and 
abuse  a  citizen  when  he  is  on  trial.  Being  a  young  man,  pos- 
sibly he  does  not  know  that  the  State's  attorney  is  just  as  much 
under  obligation  to  protect  the  accused  in  his  rights  as  he  is 
to  protect  the  state.  He  is  to  secure  justice.  That  is  the  object 
of  his  office.  For  this  he  is  paid.  Justice  to  the  accused.  Jus- 
tice to  the  state.     The  accused  is  to  be  considered  innocent 


of  George  W.  Felts  27 

until  he  is  proven  guilty.  It  is  evident  to  all  who  have  studied 
the  case  that  the  State's  attorney  intended  to  convict  the  ac- 
cused, for  his  own  glory,  whether  he  is  innocent  or  not,  and 
having  accomplished  his  object  he  began  to  fear  that  the  fact, 
that  he  was  a  deaf  old  soldier,  and  that  the  people  knew  that 
nothing  was  communicated  to  him  during  the  trial  that  their 
sympathies  might  be  aroused,  and  they  might  ask  that  he  be 
pardoned  and  released.  I  am  convinced  of  this  from  the  fact 
that  the  State's  attorney  further  distinguished  himself  by  the 
remarkable  history  he  wrote  when  the  defendant  was  sent  down 
to  the  prison.  The  law  requires  that  a  history  of  each  prisoner 
be  sent  down  to  the  warden.  This  great  historian  wrote  a 
history  of  the  old  soldier  consisting  of  about  ten  sentences, 
every  one  of  them  a  slander.  Here  is  a  specimen.  '*  He  en- 
listed in  the  army  when  he  was  nineteen.  He  never  saw  active 
service,  but  claimed  to  get  sick,  and  got  in  the  hospital,  where 
he  stayed  most  of  the  time  till  he  was  discharged  six  months 
later."  He  repeated  that  same  slander  before  the  Board  of 
Pardons,  which  was  once  too  often.  As  I  before  mentioned 
George  enlisted  when  he  was  eighteen,  and  as  he  and  his  com- 
rades will  testify  he  never  saw  anything  but  active  service. 
That  he  did  not  want  to  go  to  the  hospital,  but  was  peremp- 
torily ordered  to  go  by  the  surgeon  who  perceived,  that,  what 
George  thought  was  a  hard  cold  which  he  caught  while  on 
duty  in  the  cold  rain  at  Nashville,  was  the  measles.  When  he 
recovered  from  the  measles,  he  was  almost  entirely  deaf,  and 
was  only  just  able  to  stand  when  a  lot  of  the  wounded  were 
brought  in  and  he  was  put  in  charge  of  part  of  them,  and,  in 
his  enfeebled  condition,  took  care  of  them  night  and  day,  until 
he  caught  from  some  of  them  what  was  called  the  malignant 
erysipelas  and  went  so  low  with  it  that  his  father  was  notified 
by  the  surgeon  in  charge  that  he  was  dying,  and  the  family 
physician  was  sent  down  to  bring  him  home,  if  possible,  dead 
or  alive.  He  told  the  doctor  that  he  would  soon  be  well 
enough  to  go  to  his  regiment  and  the  surgeon  said  that  he 
would  get  him  a  pass  to  go  to  the  front.    When  the  pass  came 


28  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

it  was  a  discharge.  The  doctor  told  us  that  George  insisted 
that  he  ought  to  fill  out  the  three  years  for  which  he  enlisted. 
Then  they  told  him  he  was  too  deaf  to  be  of  service,  and  so  he 
finished  his  soldier  life  against  his  will,  and  stayed  after  his  dis- 
charge taking  care  of  the  wounded  until  a  cousin  could  go 
with  him.  He  left  home  a  rosy  stalwart  boy.  He  was  absent 
about  seven  months,  and  came  home  a  veritable  living  skeleton. 
He  had  grown  in  spite  of  all  his  sickness  and  hardship,  and 
was  six  feet  tall,  and  so  emaciated  that  his  face  wrinkled  all 
over  like  a  very  old  person's  when  he  tried  to  smile,  and  his 
large  black  eyes  glared  like  the  eyes  of  an  insane  person.  I 
do  not  believe  one  of  us  would  have  recognized  him,  had  we 
met  him  among  strangers.  He  remembers  arriving  home  at 
night  and  some  things  that  happened  just  afterward,  but  the 
next  morning  he  was  delirious  and  for  nearly  two  months  he 
seemed  oblivious  to  everything.  He  was  very  close  to  death. 
His  bones  along  the  spine  and  hips  came  through  the  skin,  mak- 
ing painful  bed  sores.  This  sickness  was  typhoid  fever,  in  its 
very  worst  form.  Sister  Susan  and  I  helped  to  care  for  him, 
and  I  remember  that  the  chief  remedy  which  we  administered, 
under  the  direction  of  the  doctor  was  brandy,  a  spoonful  at 
intervals,  and  sometimes  a  little  milk.  One  day,  when  we  had 
lost  all  hope  of  his  recovery,  he  suddenly  seemed  to  recognize 
me,  and  while  his  face  wrinkled  frightfully,  with  an  effort  to 
smile,  he  said,  "  I  told  the  boys  you  would  come.  When  did 
you  get  here?"  I  said  to  humor  his  idea,  "  I  have  been  here 
some  time."  Then  he  said,  "  I  can't  hear  you,  the  wagons 
roar  so  on  the  pavement,  I  can't  hear  anything,  and  the  noise 
hurts  my  head.  Now  that  you  are  here,  I  wish  you  would  get 
them  to  stop."  I  spoke  louder  and  still  he  could  not  hear, 
Poor  fellow,  the  roaring  was  in  his  head,  and  he  was  almost 
entirely  deaf.  As  he  slowly  recovered  his  health,  the  hearinj[^ 
of  one  ear  partially  returned.  He  was  so  weak  for  a  long  time 
that  he  had  to  support  himself  upon  crutches.  I  think  that  the 
first  time  he  was  away  from  home  was  the  fourth  of  July,  when 
one  of  his  comrades,  Charles  Manchester,  who  was  at  home  on 


of  George  W.  Felts  29 

sick  leave,  came  to  our  house  and  took  him  in  a  carriage  to  the 
celebration.  It  was  several  years  before  his  strength  fully 
returned.  From  that  time  to  this  he  has  had  rheumatism,  more 
or  less,  and  in  later  years  has  suffered  severely  with  it  being 
also  part  of  the  time  practically  helpless  and  for  a  while  his 
fingers  were  so  stiff  that  he  could  not  shut  them,  nor  use  his 
hands.  The  years  1863  and  1864  were  almost  an  entire  loss 
to  him,  because  of  his  long  sickness  and  slow  recovery.  As 
soon  as  he  was  able  to  walk  steadily  he  tried  to  enlist  again, 
and  later,  both  in  1864  and  in  1865,  he  determined  to  go  back, 
as  his  good  ear,  as  he  called  it  was  almost  restored,  but  he 
found  that  they  would  not  accept  him  on  account  of  his  deaf- 
ness. He  not  only  has  never  boasted  of  his  soldier  record,  but 
always  felt  humiliated,  because  he  was  disabled  so  early  in 
the  contlict.  Yet  that  he  was  a  good  soldier,  faithful  and  brave 
is  fully  established  by  the  testimony  of  his  comrades,  who  know 
the  truth  and  have  promptly  defended  him  against  the  vile 
slanders  of  a  man  who  was  not  born  when  George  W.  Felts 
shared  in  the  glory  of  the  brave  74th  as  it  helped  to  chase 
Brag^  out  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  thus  foiling  the  desper- 
ate attempt  of  the  confederates  to  change  the  battlefield  to  the 
State  of  Ohio.  In  that  long  campaign  which  was  made  up  of 
forced  marching,  skirmishing  and  battle,  the  74th  honored 
itself  and  the  country,  at  the  cost  of  the  loss  of  nearly  half  of 
its  men,  before  Nashville  was  reached.  Almost  four  hundred 
were  dead  or  disabled  and  George  was  not  one  of  them.  It  was 
after  that  while  on  duty  in  tlic  cold  rain  in  Nashville  that  he 
succumbed. 

Did  the  74th  have  no  record  until  the  battle  of  Stone 
River.  That  I  believe  was  the  next  important  incident  in  its 
experience.  When  I  think  of  all  the  brave  boys  who  perished 
in  that  regiment  before  Nashville  was  reached  and  the  many 
like  George  who  were  broken  down  before  he  was  left  to  almost 
die,  we  reverence  and  will  defend  them.  Once  when 
I  spoke  to  him,  of  the  hope  I  had  that  God  might 
restore    his     hearing:    if    he     would    trust    him     for  it.      He 


30  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

said,  I  had  as  well  be  dead,  as  to  be  deaf,  then  he  wept  like 
a  child,  and  said,  "  I  would  be  willing  to  stay  here  in  prison  all 
the  rest  of  my  life  if  I  could  only  hear." 

Think  of  the  terrible  wrong  that  has  been  wrought  on  this 
old  patriot  who  was  dragged  through  his  trial  in  this  land  of 
''  Equal  rights  and  Equal  protection  "  without  haviny  any  of 
the  proceedings  of  his  trial  communicated  to  him,  and  then  to 
know  as  I  know,  that  he  lost  the  hearing  of  one  ear  in  conflict 
with  the  nations  foes,  and  the  other  when  on  duty  in  the  ser- 
vice of  his  country,  in  the  cold  rain,  and  then,  that  a  State's 
attorney  in  this  grand  old  loyal  county  of  which  we  have 
always  been  so  proud  should  be  permitted  to  slander  him  so 
cruelly  because  he  was  accused  of  a  crime,  and  to  continue 
that  persecution,  when  he  knows  that  nearly  six  thousand  of 
his  fellow-citizens  in  the  county  have  asked  for  his  release 
from  the  prison,  and  when  he  knows,  that  many  of  these  at- 
tended the  trial  and  saw  that  no  attempt  was  made  to  com- 
municate the  proceedings  of  the  trial  to  him,  and  to  think  that 
he  could  refuse  him  a  new  trial  after  his  comrades  and  their 
friends  had  donated  the  money  to  buy  the  record  for  him,  to 
think  that  a  man  "  dressed  in  a  little  brief  authority  "  should 
so  presume  to  arrogate  to  himself  the  privilege  of  breaking 
the  laws  of  the  land  and  setting  aside  the  constitution  at  will, 
and  like  the  ostrich  hide  his  head  in  the  sand  (of  his  own 
imaginations)  and  persuade  himself  that  no  one  will  either 
discover  him,  or  his  tricks.  To  think  of  all  this  and  to  remem- 
ber that  this  person  represents  the  great  state  of  Illinois  of 
glorious  fame  in  honor  and  patriotism  seems  a  dream  of  chaos 
a  crime  of  anarchy. 

I  have  waited  long  for  one  sign  of  humanity,  or  gleam  of 
justice,  or  hope  of  relenting  from  this  ruthless  man  who  shames 
the  honest,  just  and  truthful  members  of  the  bar,  and  dis- 
honors the  party  that  happened  to  nominate  him  for  office. 
With  each  opportunity  for  showing  that  he  is  a  vindictive  per- 
secutor, who  has  no  more  respect  for  law,  than  he  has  for  his 
own  word,  he  proves  himself  to  care  only  to  insult  and  traduce 


of  George  W.  Felts  31 

those  to  whom  the  constitution  gives  the  right  of  petition, 
possibly,  he  never  has  read,  that  the  right  of  the  people  to  peti- 
tion shall  not  be  abridged."  '*  I  will  abridge  it,"says  he,  and  pro- 
ceeds to  do  it,  pretending  from  month  to  month  that  he  cannot 
get  time  to  attend  a  hearing,  hoping  and  believing  no  doubt, 
that  the  old  man  will  die  in  prison  so  that  his  triumph  will  be 
complete.  Meanwhile  the  old  soldier  came  near  passing  out 
with  a  hemorrhage  of  the  lungs.  At  last,  after  nearly  six 
.nonths  the  State's  attorney  is  ready,  and  he  comes  forward 
with  a  batch  of  fabrications,  even  worse  and  more  unreason- 
able than  his  former  efforts,  and  no  doubt  believes  that  such 
bold  and  ingenious  falsehoods  are  far  better  than  the  truth. 

We  will  let  the  old  soldier  tell  one  little  chapter  of  his 
record  in  the  war  written  to  me  at  my  request  two  years  ago. 
He  had  no  idea  that  I  would  ever  publi>h  it  nor  had  I  such  a 
thought.  There  will  be  more  publi^hed  in  due  time.  **He  haJ 
no  record  as  a  soldier  "  says  the  State's  attorney,  who  can  talk 
as  he  pleases  to  a  deaf  man.  The  following  letter  written  at  my 
request,  while  it  contains  reminiscences  of  George  W.  Felts,  in 
regard  to  his  seven  months  absence  from  home  in  1862  and  three 
(  18r>2-3,)  as  a  volunteer,  in  Co.  H.  74th  Regiment  of  Illinois 
Infantry,  is  only  a  slight  summing  up,  of  the  ^utTering  and 
hardshi]),  which  in  common  with  his  comrades,  he  endured 
during  that  time  and  which  he  described  to  me,  in  his  letters, 
which  were  written  about  once  a  week  on  the  average  during 
the  time  he  was  in  the  service. 

Rockford,  111.,  February,  14,  1905. 
My  Dear  Sister: — 

I,  George  W.  Felts,  enlisted  August  9,  1862,  and  was  dis- 
charged I-ebruary  17,  1863,  but  stayed  in  the  hospital  after  1 
was  discharged,  first  because  I  was  too  sick  to  start,  and  later  ' 
taking  care  of  others,  waiting  to  take  my  cousin.  Jesse  Felts 
with  me.  I  reached  home  toward  the  last  of  March,  having 
been  absent  a  little  over  seven  months. 

My  regiment  the  74th  Illinois,  was  organized  at  Camp 
Fuller.  Rockford.  111.,  in  August,  1862,  and  was  mustered 
into  service,  September  4th  of  that  year.    Companies  A.  B.  C. 


32  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

D.  E.  F.  &  H.  were  from  Winnebago  county ;  G.  from  Oregon, 
Ogle  county,  and  Company  I.  from  Stephenson  county.^  Jason 
:Marsh,  of  Rockford,  was  our  Colonel,  and  James  B.  Kerr,  of 
Roscoe,  was  our  Lieutenant  Colonel,  and  Edward  F.  Dutcher, 
of  Oregon,  was  our  [Major.  I  was  in  Company  H.  and  our 
Captain  was  Thomas  Bryan,  who  was  one  of  the  big  boys,  in 
our  district  school,  at  the  old  Crane  school-house,  when  I  was 
one  of  the  little  boys. 

I  think  he  was  about  twenty-six  years  old,  and  he  was  a 
fine  looking  fellow,  and  good  to  us,  and  had  learned  how  to 
drill  soldiers,  I  think  with  Colonel  Ellsworth.  We  were  in 
Camp  Fuller,  in  Rockford  one  month  and  drilled  hard,  it 
seemed  to  me.  I  was  only  a  boy,  eighteen  years  of  age,  and 
weighed  only  ninety-five  pounds,  yet  I  was  well  and  hearty. 
^ly  tirst  mishap  was  getting  a  bayonet  thrust  into  my  wrist,  and 
I  came  near  losing  my  hand,  but  it  did  not  keep  me  from  drill- 
ing, nor  from  practicing  shooting  at  a  target,  that  they  said  was 
one  mile  away.  The  target  was  a  board  six  feet  long,  and  one 
foot  wide.  We  could  cut  it  all  to  pieces  in  short  order.  I 
thought  it  was  a  great  thing  to  go  home  on  a  furlough,  for  a 
few  days.  Some  of  the  boys  got  sick  and  went  home,  and 
never  came  back.  We  lived  high,  though  we  thought  it  hard 
living,  but  it  was  good  to  what  we  got  in  the  South.  Our 
sutler  was  taught  a  lesson,  because  he  charged  us  twice  as 
much,  as  we  would  have  had  to  pay,  for  the  same  thing  in  town. 
We  tore  down  his  shanty,  and  sent  him  out  of  camp.  When 
we  received  orders  to  break  camp  for  the  South,  many  people 
came  from  all  over  the  country,  to  see  us  off,  and  when  we 
marched  to  the  train,  it  seemed  to  some  of  them,  as  they  said, 
"  that  there  were  miles  of  soldiers."  With  the  speeches,  the 
music,  the  marching  to  the  train,  it  was  an  exciting  time,  espe- 
cially to  those  of  us  who  were  boys.  There  were  so  many 
weeping  when  they  told  us  good-bye,  that  some  of  us  came 
near  breaking  down,  and  I  think  none  of  us  had  dry  eyes.  We 
were  happy  though,  in  the  thought  that  they  were  proud  of  us, 
and  loved  us,  and  that  if  we  fell,  they  would  honor  us  for  dying 
for  our  country.  We  went  by  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern 
Railroad  to  Chicago,  and  made  a  halt  there  long  enough  to 
get  a  cup  of  coli'ee,  then  boarded  the  train  for  Louisville.  We 
stopped  on  this  side  of  the  Ohio  river.  We  went  into  Camp 
for  the  first  time,  late  in  the  evening.  We  had  not  much  more 
than  got  rolled  up  in  our  blankets,  when  the  bugle  sounded, 
"  Fall  •■/!."     We  went  across  the  river  on  a  pontoon  bridge, 


of  George  W.  Felts  33 

and  camped  in  a  lumber-yard  until  daylight.  There  is  where 
we  met  the  44th  Illinois.  The  boys  that  went,  before  we  en- 
listed, Mike  Fulmer,  L.  Parsons,  Sam  \'inton,  and 
Tames  Sherman,  were  some  of  those  I  was  acquainted  with. 
They  were  surprised  to  see  me  down  there,  and  the  first  thing 
I  heard,  was  Alike  Fulmer  saying,  "  There  is  that  little  George 
Felts."  There  is  where  we  started  with  our  knapsacks.  Mine 
weighed  about  as  much  as  I  did,  besides  my  gun  and  forty 
rounds  of  cartridges,  canteen,  and  three  days  rations.  That 
morning  we  started  on  the  march,  and  marched  all  day  long 
till  night,  and  I  was  so  tired  I  couldn't  eat  any  supper.  We 
stacked  arms  and  laid  down  on  the  ground,  and  used  our  knap- 
sacks for  pillows.  The  next  morning  the  clothes  in  the  knap- 
sacks were  gone.  The  old  soldiers  helped  themselves  while 
we  slept.  They  needed  them  more  than  we  did,  and  we  did 
not  blame  them.  They  left  my  dress-suit  because  it  was  so  small 
some  one  said.  The  next  morning  I  was  sore  and  lame,  but  we 
had  to  get  to  the  front,  going  on  march  all  day,  again.  The 
marching  was  hard  on  new  recruits.  When  night  came  we 
stacked  our  arms,  and  rolled  in  our  blankets,  and  that  was  the 
last  we  would  know  until  morning.  At  daylight  we  would 
make  our  coffee,  eat  our  hardtack  and  bacon,  the  same  thing 
every  day.  We  were  put  on  forced  march,  until  we  caught  up 
with  Bragg.  We  occasionally  got  near  enough  to  skirmish 
with  him.  Once  we  found  some  of  his  cavalry,  and  shelled 
them.  We  formed  in  line  of  battle,  and  marched  through  the 
timber  on  the  run  for  more  than  a  mile,  came  out  in  an  open 
field,  threw  the  rail  fence  down,  every  other  corner,  and  the 
I'^ifth  Wisconsin  Battery  shelled  Bragg's  cavalry.  The  cavalry 
was  coming  on  the  walk  from  the  East.  Then  they  turned 
South  for  half  a  mile.  When  they  commenced  to  shell  them, 
the  battery  threw  two  gims  on  those  going  South,  and  three 
gims  on  those  going  West.  They  turned  backward,  and  the 
grape  shot  had  killed  so  many  men  in  the  lane,  that  they  had  to 
throw  the  fence  down,  and  go  through  the  field,  to  get  back 
toward  the  East.  We  laid  so  close  to  the  cannon,  that  the  concus- 
sion would  lift  our  hats  and  make  us  deaf.  It  hurt  my  ears  so  I 
could  hardly  hear  the  commands.  I  thought  my  time  had  come. 
While  we  were  lying  down  some  of  the  frightened  horses  came 
toward  us,  andone  of  them  jumped  over  me.  The  enemy  was  so 
close,  we  could  see  the  buttons  on  their  coats.  We  thought  that 
they  ought  to  let  us  fire  on  them.    We  believed  that  we  could 


34  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

clean  them  out  good.  I  can  remember  many  of  the  things  that 
happened,  better  than  the  names  of  the  places  visited.  It  seems 
to  me  that  we  must  have  marched  all  over  Kentucky,  some- 
times twenty-six  miles  a  day,  in  dust  and  heat  the  first  weeks, 
in  rain  and  mud  for  more  weeks  and  later  in  sleet  and  snow. 
We  were  at  it  all  the  time.  We  thought  the  marching  was 
hard,  but  when  we  could  get  no  water  fit  to  drink,  and  kept  on  . 
in  the  hot  sun,  with  the  dust  so  thick  we  could  hardly  breathe, 
it  made  the  best  of  us  wilt.  I  remember,  on  one  occasion,  Ed. 
Sherman  and  myself,  took  six  canteens  apiece,  and  went  in 
search  of  water  about  two  miles,  where  a  negro  had  told  us 
there  was  a  spring.  As  we  got  close  to  it,  we  saw  the  first 
fresh  meat,  we  had  seen  for  a  long  time.  Ed  Sherman  said 
if  I  would  get  the  water  he  would  wait  for  me.  So  I  filled 
the  canteens,  and  when  I  had  got  back  he  had  gone,  and  on 
the  ground  where  I  left  him,  was  the  front  half  of  the  sheep, 
and  he  and  the  hind  half  were  gone.  Often  I  was  out  on 
picket  in  the  night.  One  very  dark  night  they  put  me  out  on 
picket  in  an  old  field,  where  the  weeds  were  higher  than  my 
head.  It  was  so  dark  I  could  not  see  three  feet  before  me.  The 
Confederates  were  not  half  a  mile  from  us,  and  we  had  orders 
to  fire  if  we  heard  anything.  Somebody  fired  at  a  mule  that 
had  strayed  away.  He  thought  it  was  the  enemy.  The  ball 
came  close  to  me,  and  if  the  mule  had  not  brayed,  we  would  all 
have  been  in  the  fight.  The  next  day  or  two  we  marched  till 
midnight.  W^e  seemed  to  go  in  all  directions,  till  the  Battle  of  . 
Perryville.  That  night  we  guarded  prisoners.  The  next  night 
we  slept  on  the  battle-field.  It  rained  so  hard,  that  it  splashed 
mud  all  over  me,  but  my  head.  That  laid  on  a  corn  hill.  On 
the  march  one  day  we  came  across  a  river,  some  six  rods  wide. 
We  built  a  bridge  across  it  of  fence  rails  for  the  Battery  to 
cross  to  the  other  side.  Sometimes  when  we  crossed  corn 
fields  with  our  Battery  the  cornstalks  were  so  large  that  the 
horses  could  not  tramp  them  down,  and  so  we  took  axes  and 
chopped  them  down.  Once  I  remember  the  mountains  were  so 
steep  that  we  had  to  draw  the  guns  up  with  ropes.  It  took 
nearly  all  of  our  army  to  get  them  up.  We  got  to  Danville  in 
the  night.  Then  we  got  orders  to  march  to  Crab  Orchard. 
We  stopped  on  the  branch  of  a  dry  river,  close  to  a  pond  of 
water.  They  gave  us  orders  not  to  go  near  the  pond,  but  we 
had  had  no  water  all  day  to  drink,  so  the  boys  drove  the  guards 
away,  and  we  filled  our  canteens,  and  they  were  half  full  of 
mud.    It  took  us  two  days  to  get  back  to  Danville.     My  feet 


of  George  W.  Felts  36 

were  blistered,  and  so  raw,  that  the  blood  came  out  of  the 
holes  I  had  to  cut  in  my  boots,  so  I  could  wear  them  at  all.  I 
would  have  reported  on  the  sick  list,  but  I  thought  we  would 
have  a  battle,  and  we  all  wanted  a  hand  in  it.  When  we 
reached  Danville  we  went  into  camp  till  morning.  Then  we 
had  orders  to  march  again.  My  feet  were  so  raw  and  sore  that 
Captain  Bryan  would  not  let  me  go.  I  stayed  in  the  woods 
that  day,  and  it  rained  and  snowed  in  the  afternoon  and  in 
the  night.  The  next  night  the  snow  and  mud  were  six  inches 
deep.  That  is  where  I  left  my  tracks  of  blood  in  the  snow 
when  I  walked.  It  was  too  bad  for  us  to  stay  in  the  woods, 
so  the  Commander  ordered  us  in  town  after  dark.  We  found 
some  open  houses  that  we  could  sleep  in,  so  we  rolled  our 
blankets  around  us  and  laid  on  the  floor.  My  cousin,  Amos 
Felts  and  I  slept  together.  In  the  night  John  Henry  Campbell 
came  in.  He  had  no  blanket  and  was  sick,  so  we  let  him  sleep 
between  us.  The  next  morning  he  was  broken  out  with  the 
measles.  Neither  of  us  had  ever  had  the  measles  and  we 
caught  them  of  him.  We  had  no  chance  to  take  care  of  our- 
selves, but  we  went  right  6n.  The  next  morning  our  regiment 
came  back,  and  we  started  on  the  march  through  the  mud, 
which  as  the  snow  had  melted,  was  from  four  to  six  inches 
deep.  I  never  will  forget  that  day's  march.  The  mud  ran 
into  the  holes  in  my  boots,  and  made  my  feet  smart  terribly.  I 
had  my  boots  made  to  order,  and  supposed  they  were  the  best 
to  march  in,  but  soon  found  out  that  the  army  slioes  were 
better.  We  had  hard  marching  until  we  got  to  Edgefield,  op- 
posite Nashville.  Then  we  drilled  nearly  all  the  time.  Once 
while  there  it  rained  three  d;iys  and  most  of  that  time  we 
stayed  in  camp.  I  was  on  guard  day  and  night.  I  suppose  I 
was  coming  down  with  the  measles.  I  couldn't  sleep  so  I 
would  take  the  other  boys  places.  Then  Amos  and  I.  with 
others,  were  detailed  to  work  on  the  breastworks  at  Nashville. 
A  cold  rain  came  on  but  we  had  to  keep  right  on  working. 
The  morning  they  broke  camp  they  sent  me  to  the  hospital 
with  Amos.  As  I  stepped  up  to  bid  him  good-bye.  the  doctor 
looked  at  me  and  said,  "  You  can  go  too."  I  told  him  there 
was  nothing  the  matter  with  me  but  a  hard  cold.  He  said 
"  Wait  till  morning  and  see."  Sure  enough,  in  the  morning  I 
was  broken  out  with  the  measles  in  good  shape.  Amos  was 
very  sick.  I  stayed  by  him  over  a  week,  night  and  day  without 
sleep.  He  wouldn't  let  anybody  but  me.  and  one  Sister  of 
Charity,  do  anything  for  him.    As  soon  as  he  died  I  was  taken 


36  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

to  my  bunk.  There  were  a  good  many  days  passed  away  that 
I  didn't  know  anything.  When  I  came  to  myself  I  could  not 
hear  what  anyone  said  to  me.  One  of  my  ears  was  deafened 
either  by  a  shell  that  burst  over  my  head  or  by  the  noise  of 
the  cannon  at  the  same  time,  and  now  the  measles  had  deafened 
the  other  one.  Before  I  got  well  of  the  measles  I  was  taken 
with  malignant  erysipelas  in  my  feet  and  legs.  I  was  desper- 
ately sick  with  that  disease,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
Sisters  of  Charity  taking  such  good  care  of  me,  I  have  always 
believed  I  would  have  died.  As  soon  as  I  got  on  my  feet  they 
set  me  to  helping  nurse  the  sick  and  wounded.  I  had  thirty- 
two  men  under  my  charge.  I  found  one  of  them  was  Jesse 
Felts.  He  was  one  of  my  cousins  from  the  South,  who  stood 
by  the  Union,  and  with  his  brother  Washington  Felts,  escaped 
through  the  mountains  and  enlisted  in  the  First  East  Tennessee 
Union  Volunteers.  Colonel  Rhea  had  charge  of  that  regiment. 
They  had  to  hide  out  to  get  to  the  Union  army  and  did  good 
service.  Washington  Felts  died  in  the  battle  of  Stone  River 
from  exhaustion.  He  was  hemmed  in  on  all  sides,  by  men 
whom  he  fought  till  he  died.  There  was  not  a  scratch  or 
wound  found  on  him,  and  his  comrades  said  he  had  believed 
the  bullets  would  not  harm  him,  because  his  name  was  Wash- 
ington. He  was  only  eighteen  years  of  age  when  he  died. 
Jesse  was  a  large  man.  He  said  he  weighed  two  hundred 
pounds  when  he  entered  the  service.  He  was  six  feet,  two 
inches  tall.  As  soon  as  I  heard  his  name,  I  thought  he  must 
be  a  relative.  I  knew  my  father  had  an  uncle  by  the  name 
of  Jesse.  I  found  that  he  was  a  grandson,  of  the  old  North 
Carolina  uncle  Jesse,  that  father  had  often  told  about.  He 
was  *'  mighty  "  glad  to  see  me,  and  was  low  with  coughing, 
and  was  wasted  to  a  skeleton.  I  had  lost  my  cousin  Amos 
F'elts,  and  I  had  found  another,  but  he  seemed  nearly  gone. 
He  could  have  been  discharged  but  he  could  not  get  through 
the  Confederate  lines,  to  his  own  people.  So  we  would  talk  of 
getting  hini  North  to  my  father's  and  he  was  very  anxious  to 
go.  I  had  partially  recovered  the  hearing  of  one  ear  before  I 
found  Jesse.  They  had  to  talk  pretty  loud  to  make  me  under- 
stand but  they  needed  all  the  help  they  could  get  and  I  did  the 
best  I  could.  While  I  was  nurse  I  had  a  hard  time.  I  had  to 
be  up  night  and  day  the  most  of  the  time.  If  I  laid  down  some 
of  the  poor  fellows  would  need  me  and  I  would  be  sent  for. 
I  had  as  high  as  twenty  die  in  one  night  when  the  wounded 
first  came  in.     My  father  gave  Dr.   Patterson  two  hundred 


of  George  W.  Felts  37 

dollars  and  sent  him  down  after  me.  When  he  came  he  asked 
me  if  I  wanted  to  go  home,  I  told  him  I  wanted  a  pass  to  go 
to  the  front.  He  said  he  would  help  me.  He  took  me  down 
stairs  to  see  the  Doctor,  and  when  he  asked  me  what  I  wanted, 
I  said  I  want  a  pass  to  go  to  the  front,  he  said,  "  all  right,  I'll 
fix  it  for  you."  But  when  it  came  it  was  a  discharge.  It  was 
dated  February  17th.  1863.  I  waited  a  while  longer  to  get 
Jesse's  discharge  and  helped  in  the  hospital,  up  to  the  day  that 
I  left.  When  we  started  North  I  took  the  blankets  and  made 
a  bed  for  Jesse  on  the  floor  of  the  car.  Dr.  Patterson  stayed 
at  the  hospital  and  sent  us  home  alone.  When  we  got  into 
Kentucky,  Bragg's  cavalry  had  captured  a  train  of  mules,  and 
burnt  them  on  the  main  track,  mules  and  all  except  the  engine, 
and  they  sent  that  out  to  meet  us.  Before  it  reached  us,  it 
jumped  off  the  rails,  and  went  down  into  the  ravine  more 
that!  fifty  feet.  The  steam  was  flying  in  every  direction.  Our 
train  undertook  to  get  the  burnt  cars  oflF  the  track.  It  would 
back  up  and  put  on  steam  and  run  up  and  strike  it,  and  when 
it  struck  it,  it  would  throw  us  off  our  seats,  and  Jesse  would 
slide  on  the  floor  under  the  seats.  They  had  a  lot  of  prisoners 
along  an«l  when  we  got  to  the  Ohio  river,  we  had  to  stand  on 
the  platform  for  more  than  two  hours,  to  get  a  bus  to  take  us 
across.  Those^who  were  able  to  walk,  had  to  get  out  and  help 
push  the  bus  up  the  hill.  I  was  so  sick  I  do  not  remember  much 
of  the  trip.  I  do  remember  that  when  we  got  to  Chicago,  we 
got  into  a  bus  and  it  seemed  to  me  we  drove  alx)ut  the  city 
nearly  all  night,  and  they  almost  jolted  what  little  life  we  had 
out  of  us.  We  were  so  weak  and  sick  that  we  stayed  quite  a 
number  of  days  in  Chicago.  Instead  of  the  bus  man  taking  us 
to  a  hotel,  he  took  us  to  a  saloon  where  they  had  a  spare  bed, 
but  that  was  better  than  the  bus.  We  were  so  sick  that  we 
couldn't  write  and  the  folks  had  looked  so  many  days  for  us 
that  they  had  given  us  up  and  were  getting  ready  to  send  some- 
one to  try  to  find  us,  and  were  not  at  the  station  when  we  got 
to  Durand.  I  was  bound  to  get  down  home  that  evening,  and 
it  was  four  miles  away.  We  tried  to  ride  horseback  but 
couldn*t,  and  so  we  went  to  Professor  Johnson's  at  the  sem- 
inary. Mrs.  Johnson  made  us  a  cup  of  tea.  and  that  revived 
us  a  little.  Tlien  a  man  took  us  in  a  wagon.  I  expected  to 
sit  up  in  the  seat,  and  have  Jesse  lie  in  the  bottom  of  the  box. 
but  I  had  to  lie  down  there  with  him,  and  it  seemed  as  though 
we  would  never  get  home.  When  we  did  finally  reach  our 
destination,  I  asked  the  man  what  he  charged,  and  he  said  two 


38  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

dollars  apiece.  Think  of  that  when  we  soldiers  only  had  thir- 
teen dollars  a  month.  Of  course  the  folks  were  overjoyed  to 
see  us  when  we  got  home.  They  got  supper  for  us  right  away. 
They  said  we  could  have  anything  we  wanted.  I  asked  for 
buttermilk,  and  Jesse  asked  for  sour  kraut,  and  we  were  so 
sick,  and  so  like  living  skeletons,  that  they  did  not  dare  to  give 
them  to  us.  We  could  hardly  stand  it  to  be  refused,  but  they 
said  if  we  were  all  right  in  the  morning,  we  should  have  some. 
That  is  the  last  thing  I  remember  for  weeks,  I  was  delirious 
in  the  morning,  from  typhoid  fever,  and  it  was  more  than  a 
month  before  I  knew  anything  and  my  bones  came  through 
the  skin  on  my  hips  and  back,  and  after  about  two  months, 
when  I  fully  knew  I  was  at  home,  I  asked  for  Jesse.  They 
kept  telling  me  that  he  was  asleep,  or,  that  he  was  better,  and  it 
was  a  long  time  before  they  dared  to  tell  me  that  he  was  dead. 
Poor  fellow,  he  had  so  wanted  to  live  in  the  North.  He  died 
only  five  days  after  we  got  home.  I  could  hardly  believe  it 
for  a  long  time. 

This  was  to  be  the  first  of  a  series  of  letters  concerning 
his  army  experiences  and  other  incidents  of  his  life.  This  is 
the  only  one  he  has  had  an  opportunity  to  write  for  one  of  the 
rules  of  the  Illinois  penitentiary  is  that  he  can  only  have  one 
day  in  five  weeks  in  which  he  can  have  a  pencil  and  paper. 
That  is,  once  in  five  weeks  he  can  write  a  letter.  Fortunately 
his  record  in  the  service  does  not  depend  on  what  he  knows 
or  what  I  know.  There  are  still  several  hundred  people  liv- 
ing who  remember  that  he  was  absent  in  the  Civil  war  for 
more  than  six  months  and  the  discharge  shows  that  it  was 
issued  the  17th.  of  February.  The  service  that  he  gave  in  the 
hospital  after  his  discharge  was  just  as  much  service  to  his 
country  as  loading  and  firing  a  gun,  or  any  other  required 
service,  and  if  six  months  service  in  the  Civil  War  gives  a 
soldier  no  record  at  all.  what  becomes  of  Ellsworth  who  went 
to  his  death  in  tearing  down  the  first  confederate  flag  that  he 
saw?  What  becomes  of  the  tens  of  thousands  of  our  noble 
volunteers  many  of  whom  were  killed  in  the  first  skirmish  or 
battle  they  experienced?  What  becomes  of  the  many  thou- 
sands who  died  from  exposure  or  disease  or  neglect  in  the 


of  George  W.  Felts  39 

tirst  year  of  their  service?  What  becomes  of  the  whole  Span- 
ish-American army  from  President  Roosevelt  down,  or  up, 
as  the  time  will  come  when  the  private  soldier  who  serves  as 
he  does  for  a  mere  pittance,  and  bears  most  of  the  suffering 
and  privation,  will  be  honored  and  beloved  by  the  people  a< 
he  should  be.  The  time  is  also  coming  when  a  public  officer 
will  find  out  that  he  is  the  servant  and  agent  of  the  people 
who  elect  him  for  a  certain  line  of  duties  and  give  him  no 
more  liberty  to  break  a  law  or  set  aside  the  constitution,  than 
it  accords  to  the  huiublest  citizen.  On  the  contrary,  that  he 
is  bound  by  oath  to  sustain  the  laws  even  against  his  own  pri- 
vate wishes  or  interests,  if  need  be. 

I  could  incorporate  in  this  defense  of  the  soldier  record 
of  George  W.  I'elts,  hundreds  of  letters  and  affidavits  from 
his  coiurades  and  from  citizens  who  know  that  the  State's 
attorney  has  slandered  him.  but  I  shall  only  give  place  to  a  few. 
as  I  do  not  believe  that  1  need  them.  Oscar  I'ranklin  who  was 
intimately  associated  with  this  deaf  old  soldier  in  the  service, 
and  whose  record  is  known  to  all,  as  that  of  a  patriotic  effective 
soldier  who  went  through  to  the  end,  and  who  was  a  great 
sufl'erer  for  many  years  afterward  from  wounds  received  in 
the  service,  is  known  throuj^hout  the  county  as  a  man  of  in- 
tegrity. He  attended  the  trial,  and  made  the  following  affidav-': 
at  the  time  we  were  trymg  to  get  a  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus. 

State  of  Illinois,        [ 
Winnebago  County,  \     ' 

I,  Oscar  Franklin,  of  the  city  of  Rockford.  County  of  Winne- 
bago, State  of  Illinois,  first  being  duly  sworn,  testify  that  I 
was  present,  during  many  of  the  sessions  of  the  Circuit  Court, 
of  the  said  County  and  State,  held  at  the  Court  House  in  the 
city  of  Rockford,  in  the  January  term  A.  D.  1905,  while  the 
said  George  W.  Felts  was  being  tried.  I  testify  that  I  knew 
George  W.  l-elts  to  be  a  deaf  man,  who  can  only  hear  imper- 
fectly, through  his  eartube,  when  the  person  speaking  is  close 
to  him,  speaking  directly  into  the  mouth-piece  of  the  tube.  I 
sat  where  I  could  see  him  at  any  time  and  close  to  him  part  of 
the  time,  and  I  testify  that  no  one  conveyed  to  him  the  testi- 


40  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

mony,  nor  any  of  the  particulars  of  the  trial,  in  my  presence. 
I  also  testify  under  oath,  that  I  was  with  him,  in  the  war  for 
the  Union,  in  Company  H.  of  the  74th.  Regiment  of  Illinois 
Volunteers,  and  that  I  know  that  he  was  a  faithful  soldier, 
through  the  hard  campaign,  under  General  Buell,  through 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  in  conflict  with  Bragg's  forces. 
The  terrible  exposure,  and  long  marches,  according  to  Com- 
rade Holland's  History  of  the  74th.  regiment,  disabled  over 
three  hundred  of  the  regiment,  before  we  reached  Nashville. 
While  in  camp  at  Edgefield,  George  W.  Felts  was  detailed,  to 
work  on  the  breast  works  at  Nashville,  and  as  there  was  a 
cold  rain  falling  at  the  time,  he  took  cold  when  he  was  com- 
ing down  with  the  measles,  and  was  sent  to  the  hospital,  with 
his  cousin  Amos  Felts,  who  was  also  sick  with  the  measles, 
and  who  died  in  a  few  days,  after  reaching  the  hospital.  I 
also  testify,  that  George  W.  Felts  was  a  faithful  soldier  from 
the  time  he  enlisted  till  he  was  taken  to  the  hospital,  before 
the  battle  of  Stone  River.  He  was  with  his  Company  at  the 
Battle  of  Perryville,  and  wherever  the  Company  was  ordered, 
and  always  ready  for  picket  duty,  or  anything  required  of  him. 
It  was  not  his  fault  that  he  was  broken  down  in  his  youth,  and 
robbed  of  his  health,  before  he  had  been  out  a  year  in  the  ser- 
vice. It  is  not  his  fault  that  he  is  a  deaf  man,  nor  was  it  im- 
possible to  convey  to  him  the  details  of  his  trial,  as  he  cati 
read  both  writing  and  printing. 

Oscar  Franklin. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  16th  day  of  September, 
1905. 

Lewis  F.  Lake, 
(SEAL)        .  Clerk  of  Circuit  Court. 

Colonel  Bryan  was  the  Captain  of  Company  H  in  which 
Felts  served.  He  is  a  man  of  high  honor  and  integrity,  and  a 
descendant  of  one  of  the  worthiest  of  the  pioneer  families, 
and  has  known  George  from  his  boyhood.  The  following  is 
the  copy  of  his  letter  sent  to  the  Board  of  Pardons. 

I  write  to  you  in  behalf  of  George  W.  Felts,  whose  loyal  ser- 
vice, in  the  war  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  I  am  cred- 
ibly informed,  was  attacked  and  discredited  by  the  State's  at- 
torney when  the  said  George  W.  Felts,  was  on  trial  for  his 
life.    I  desire  to  refute  that  slander  upon  as  brave  and  true  a 


of  George  W.  Felts  41 

soldier,  as  the  service  knew,  in  those  times  that  tried  men's 
souls.  I  was  the  Captain  of  Company  H  in  which  he  enlisted 
as  a  volunteer,  and  from  the  date  of  his  enlistment,  I  can 
vouch  for  his  courage,  his  endurance,  and  his  fidelity.  I  finall) 
became  the  Colonel  of  his  Regiment,  the  74th.  Illinois,  and 
was  with  it  till  the  close  of  the  war,  and  believe  with  others, 
who  know  the  history  of  the  74th.  as  Comrade  Holland  men- 
tions, as  Historian  of  the  Regiment,  that  the  campaign 
throughout  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  was  the  most  severe  in 
the  loss  of  men,  of  any  we  experienced.  Nearly  four  hundred 
had  fallen  out,  before  we  reached  Nashville,  from  death  and 
sickness,  because  of  long  marches,  over  dusty,  limestone  pikes 
in  hot  weather,  and  later  through  rain,  sleet  and  snow.  George 
W.  Felts  was  with  us  when  we  reached  Nashville,  and  ha<l 
borne  his  part  well  in  the  march,  and  was  on  duty  in  the  cold 
rain,  when  he  came  down  with  the  measles,  and  was  taken  to 
the  hospital,  where  I  often  visited  him  in  his  sickness.  It  is 
well  known,  as  his  comrades  and  friends  have  no  doubt  in- 
formed you,  that  this  sickness  entirely  unfitted  him  for  service, 
resulting  as  it  did  finally,  in  the  loss  of  his  hearing.  I  sincerely 
hope  you  will  see  your  way  clear,  to  rel)uke  those,  who  dared 
to  take  an  American  citizen  through  his  trial,  without  com- 
municating the  proceedings  to  him,  by  restoring  this  faithful 
old  soldier  to  freedom,  for  his  few  remaining  years. 

Wrv  respectfullv, 
T.  J.  Bryan. 
Late  Colonel  of  the  74th.  Illinois  Volunteers. 

Charles  T.  Manchester,  who  enjoys  the  resi>ect  and  con- 
fidence, of  a  large  circle  of  acquaintances,  both  in  Illinois  and 
Iowa,  sent  a  letter  to  the  Board  of  Pardons,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing is  a  copy. 

I  am  a  citizen  of  Dunlap.  Iowa,  and  formerly  a  resident 
of  this  county  (Winnebago),  and  a  veteran  of  Company  H 
74th.  Illinois  \'olunteers.  While  visiting  here  (Rockford, 
111.)  I  learned  that  the  State's  attorney  in  open  court  attacked 
the  soldier  record  of  George  \V.  Felts,  discrediting  his  loyal 
service ;  also  that  he  sent  a  libelous  statement  to  the  Warden 
of  the  penitentiary,  in  the  place  of  the  true  history  of  my  old 
comrade,  as  the  law  required  him  to  give.  George  W.  Felts 
is  the  descendant  of  a  long  line  of  patriots,  who  helped  to 
establish  this  Republic,  and  from  the  days  of  the  Revolution  to 


42  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

the  present  his  people  have  been  among  the  best  in  the  nation, 
in  education  and  usefulness,  and  loyalty  and  rehgion,^  being 
always  at  the  front,  ready  to  bear  their  full  share  of  life's  bur- 
dens. The  only  thing  that  hindered  George  W.  Felts  from 
equaling  the  best  of  them,  was  the  loss  of  his  hearing  in  the 
service  of  his  country.  I  personally  know  his  record  as  a 
soldier.  He  was  in  my  Company  and  always  did  his  duty  from 
the  day  of  his  enlistment,  till  he  was  completely  broken  down, 
and  taken  to  the  hospital,  where  with  measles  and  erysipelas, 
he  was  close  to  death.  Before  the  end  of  the  first  year,  deaf 
and  helpless  as  he  was,  he  was  honorably  discharged  and  taken 
home,  where  for  months  he  was  very  low  with  typhoid  fever. 
In  the  long  terrible  campaign,  when  the  74th.  marched  all  over 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  helping  to  keep  Bragg's  forces  out 
of  Ohio,  George  W.  Felts  accompanied  us  every  step  of  the 
way.  In  march  and  skirmish  and  battle  he  was  a  good  soldier, 
and  I  am  glad  to  brand  as  a  slanderer,  unfit  for  public  service, 
any  man  who  attempts  to  rob  him,  or  any  other  soldier,  of  his 
just  reward,  the  honor  that  is  due  to  him,  from  every  citizen. 

Charles  T.  Manchester. 

Lieutenant  Holland,  the  Historian  of  the  Regiment,  so 
well  and  favorably  known  throughout  the  county  and  State, 
speake  of  this  deaf  old  veteran  in  the  following  words : 

George  W.  Felts,  on  whose  behalf  a  petition  for  pardon 
is  about  to  be  filed,  was  a  soldier  in  Company  H.  74th.  Regi- 
ment, Illinois  Volunteers  in  the  Civil  war,  of  which  Regiment 
I  was  also  a  member.  I  take  pleasure  in  signing  this  petition, 
and  will  add,  that  during  my  acquaintance  with  Comrade  Felts, 
in  the  service,  I  always  found  him  faithful  and  efficient,  in  the 
discharge  of  the  duties  imposed  upon  him;  and  I  am  sure  that 
I  voice  the  views  of  his  surviving  comrades,  of  the  regiment, 
in  saying,  that  I  would  resent  as  an  unfounded,  and  almost 
personal  reflection,  any  imputation  upon  the  courage,  and  fidel- 
ity, with  which  he  served  his  country  as  a  volunteer  soldier. 

Yours  respectfully, 

Hosmer  P.  Holland. 
Late  First  Lieutenant  Co.  C.  111.  Volunteers. 

\\'.  H.  Randall,  a  true  patriot  and  a  good  man,  from  a 
pioneer  family,  is  another  comrade  who  knows  the  truth,  and 


of  George  W.  Felts  43 

gladly  joins  in  the  defense  of  this  helpless  and  much  slandered 
old  soldier. 

I  have  known  George  \V.  Felts  ever  since  we  were  boys 
together.  We  went  into  the  army  at  the  same  time,  and  were 
in  the  same  company.  He  was  a  faithful  soldier,  always  ready 
for  duty,  and  never  complained  of  his  lot,  however  hard  it 
might  be.  I  have  seen  him  march  when  his  feet  were  raw  and 
bleeding,  but  he  never  thought  of  falhng  out.  In  spite  of  his 
great  suffering  he  kept  on.  He  was  obedient,  courageous  and 
patriotic,  and  in  fact  everything,  that  goes  to  make  up  a  good 
soldier,  until  he  was  completely  broken  in  health,  and  was 
honorably  discharged  on    account  of  his  disability. 

Any  one  who  detracts  from  his  soldier  record,  either  in- 
tentionally misrepresents  the  facts,  or  else  he  does  not  know 
what  he  is  talking  about. 

Since  the  war  I  have  known  him  as  a  peaceable,  law-abid- 
ing citizen,  doing  the  best  he  could  to  take  care  of  himself  and 
his  family,  and  that  too,  under  great  difficulty,  on  account  of 
his  deafness,  and  rheumatism,  and  heart  trouble,  all  of  which 
resulted  from  his  army  service. 

Very  respectfully, 

W.  H.  Randall. 
(Late  of  Co.  H.  74th.  111.  Volunteers.) 

We  received  a  letter  from  Comrade  W.  S.  Young  of 
Kingston,  Illinois,  in  which  the  following  statement  appears. 
"  I  was  at  the  skirmish  and  noted  the  course  and  shriek  of  the 
shell,  that  bursting  made  George  deaf."  The  account  that 
George  wrote  to  me  shortly  after  it  happened  was,  in  his  boy 
language  about  as  follows.  *'  I  guess  one  of  my  ears  is  busted. 
A  shell  was  what  did  it  they  say."  I  don't  know  whether  it 
was  that  or  the  noise  of  the  guns.  I  do  know  that  one  ear  has 
been  deaf  ever  since.  He  was  examined  by  a  number  of  sur- 
geons at  different  times  and  about  twenty  years  ago  his  pension 
was  granted  for  '*  total  deafness  in  one  ear  and  severe  deafness 
in  the  other."  The  State's  attorney,  however,  knows  more  about 
it  than  we  do,  his  imagination  being  such  a  vast  storehouse 
of  information. 

Comrade  Young,  who  was  a  member  of  the  same  Com- 


44  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

pany  and  Regiment  with  Felts,  the  74th.  IlHnois  Volunteers, 
and  has  been  well  acquainted  with  him  ever  since,  is  the  old 
soldier  who  tried  to  get  Judge  Kohlsaat,  of  the  United  States 
Circuit  Court,  to  issue  a  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  in  time  for 
him  to  intercept  his  old  comrade  on  his  way  to  the  penitentiary, 
because,  he,  a  deaf  man,  had  been  taken  through  his  trial  with- 
out having  any  of  the  proceedings  communicated  to  him.  Mr. 
Young  has  been  a  preacher,  teacher,  and  editor  since  the  war, 
and  a  student  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  Sates  and  of 
constitutional  law,  and  his  learning  is  not  the  kind  that  destroys 
patriotism,  but  intensifies  it.  He  is  honestly  of  the  opinion 
that  those  who  violate  the  Constitution  are  "  traitors  and 
scoundrels,"  and  he  makes  the  dreadful  mistake  of  telling  them 
so,  in  a  variety  of  terms,  so  fierce  and  original,  that,  to  shield 
themselves,  they  hint  that  he  is  "  a  little  off."  It  would  never 
occur  to  some  of  these  featherweights,  that  he  is  so  far  "  off  " 
from  them  both  mentally  and  morally,  that  they  are  incapable 
of  understanding  l:im.  It  is  a  terrible  awakening  for 
an  old  patriotic  Union  soldier,  to  discover  that  the  courts 
where  government  is  applied  are  perverted  from  righteous 
uses  to  become  as  he  says,  a  '*  robber's  fence,"  and  a  "  device 
for  kidnapping,"  because  he  knows,  as  many  people  do  not, 
the  awful  price  that  was  paid  for  establishing  and  redeeming 
this  Government  "  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people,"  and  then  to  see  an  old  comrade  who  lost  his  hearing, 
in  the  service  of  his  country,  refused  the  rights  that  are  granted 
to  the  most  worthless  citizen,  would  jar  the  brain  of  this 
State's  attorney,  if  he,  or  his  brother  had  been  so  wronged. 

George  W.  Felts  has  a  record  that  is  safely  guarded  in 
the  annals  of  the  great  republic  for  which  he  offered  his  life, 
and  it  is  proof  against  the  attacks  of  his  foes.  His  name  will 
be  known  and  reverenced  when  they  will  be  forgotten,  or  if 
they  are  remembered  it  will  be  only  as  the  slanderers  who 
ignoring  law,  and  justice  and  humanity,  entered  into  a  con- 
spiracy to  rob  him  of  his  property,  his  liberty,  his  life,  his  rep- 


of  George  W.  Felts  45 

utation,  and  his  pension,  either  for  their  own  profit  or  their  own 
aggrandizement.  That  he  told  the  truth  about  the  sad  affair 
for  which  he  is  suffering  imprisonment,  is  believed  by  all  who 
have  examined  the  facts  in  the  case.  It  will  be  believed  by 
every  fair-minded  person  who  will  carefully  read  this  book. 
It  cannot  be  well  for  anyone  to  believe  a  lie.  They  who  per- 
suaded the  friends  of  the  deceased,  to  believe  that  he  wa.- 
murdered,  when  he  was  cut  by  a  person  who  did  not  know 
who  it  was,  and  who  acted  in  self-defense,  have  done  them  a 
great  wrong.  The  fact  that  the  defendant  hears  so  imperfectly 
through  the  eartube  that  he  answers  sometimes  entirely  foreign 
to  the  question  should  have  made  it  imperative  that  he  be  al- 
lowed the  privilege  of  giving  his  statement  as  to  his  experi- 
ence, and  then  have  the  crossquestioning,  proceed  by  writing, 
according  to  the  established  practice  of  the  courts.  That  he 
did  not  know  many  of  the  questions  is  a])parent  by  his  an- 
swers. At  the  time  his  motion  for  a  new  trial  was  overruled, 
he  was  asked  if  he  understood  and  he  said,  **  Yes,"  when  he 
thought  is  was  an  entirely  different  question.  He  did  not  know 
that  he  was  not  to  have  a  new  trial,  until  he  had  been  in  prison 
for  sometime.  He  was  sentenced  by  the  Sheriff  through  the 
eartube,  and  tried  to  tell  me  afterward  what  the  sheriff  said 
ami  he  knew  next  to  nothing  of  it.  The  old  patriot  had  been 
done  to  death,  or  worse  than  death  by  a  trial,  unjust  from 
start  to  finish,  and  the  tragedy  ended,  with  the  State's  attorney 
laughing,  until  he  almost  fell  off  his  chair,  because  he  had 
outwitted  the  attorney  for  the  defense.  No  thought  of  law 
or  justice  was  in  his  mind,  no  regard  for  established  court 
■practice  of  centuries  of  recognized  authority,  no  care  that  he 
had  cheated  this  old,  deaf  veteran  out  of  a  legal  trial,  he  had 
beaten  a  lawyer  so  far  his  superior,  that  he  was  lost  in  self- 
glorification,  and  as  I  looked  at  him,  as  R.  K.  Welsh  the  at- 
torney for  the  defense,  told  the  judge  of  the  "great  wrong 
that  was  being  done  "  and  that  he  "  believed  that  the  State's 
attorney's  false  statement,  that  he  had  made  up  the  story  of 


46  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

the  defendant,  and  taught  it  to  him,  zcas  the  cause  of  the  ver- 
dict.".  The  conviction  came  to  nie,  that  it  was  better  to  be 
the  defendant,  who  knew  himself  innocent  of  any  intention  to 
kill  than  to  be  this  State's  attorney,  who  admitted  right  there 
this  daring  falsehood  and  plead  as  an  excuse,  that  once,  the 
attorney  for  the  defense  had  played  him  a  similar  trick,  which 
said  attorney  promptly  denied.  I  have  always  believed,  that 
this  particular  falsehood  did  more  to  deceive  the  jury  than 
any  of  the  other  statements  in  the  closing  speech,  so  full  of 
untrue  things,  and  many  others  believe  it.  It  is  so  difficult  to 
think  that  a  man  would  so  far  forget  the  responsibility  of  his 
solemn  oath,  that  he  would  bring  a  falsehood  into  his  speech, 
when  it  might  result  in  the  taking  a  way  the  life  of  an  inno- 
cent man,  that  the  jury  would  feel  almost  compelled  to  believe 
him. 

Let  no  one  suppose  that  I  have  considered  myself  blame- 
less in  the  imprisonment  of  my  innocent  brother.  I  cannot 
imagine  how  I  consented  to  let  the  weeks  go  by  and  see  thi^ 
great  wrong  done.  I  was,  however,  all  ready  to  start  out 
among  the  people  to  tell  the  story  of  it  and  begin  at  once  se- 
curing a  petition  for  a  pardon  for  him  because  the  evidence 
about  his  neck  had  not  been  brought  in.  I  was  starting  to  tlic 
train  going  to  one  of  the  villages  in  the  county  where  the  peo- 
ple were  to  help  me  hold  a  public  meeting  when  I  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  arrival  of  W.  S.  Young  one  of  the  Comrades  of 
the  74th.  Illinois  Volunteers,  who  promptly  announced  that 
George  Felts  had  never  been  in  court ;  that  no  deaf  man  couKl 
be  tried  in  the  United  States  who  did  not  know  the  proceed- 
ings ;  that  every  word  should  have  been  written  for  him,  as 
the  trial  progressed,  and  that  he  should  proceed  to  take  him  out 
on  a  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus.  What's  that?  a  new  style?  I 
was  not  quite  so  ignorant  as  the  woman,  who  thought  a  dip- 
lomat was  a  new  style  of  floor  covering,  but  I  was  very  much 
afraid  that  I  should  be  hindered  in  mv  own  undertaking:,  and  1 
couldn't  see  why  he  was  the  only  one  who  knew  anything.    He 


of  George  W.  Felts  47 

made  the  attempt  in  Chicago  before  Judge  Kohlsaat  and  was 
informed  that  the  State's  attorney  must  be  notified  of  the 
hearing. 

A  date  was  fixed,  and  the  State's  attorney  appeared,  and 
Comrade  Young  presented  his  petition,  and  the  judge  decided 
it  was  not  in  proper  form,  and  called  it  an  **  ingenious  address 
on  Constitutional  law."  In  the  meantime,  I  had  seen  several 
lawyers  who  said  our  contention  was  correct,  and  several  others 
who  said  that  our  remedy  was  a  writ  of  error.  Mr.  Wiseman 
was  holding  a  meeting  in  Indiana  and  I  notified  him  of  the 
action  of  Comrade  Young.  When  he  arrived  he  employed  an 
attorney,  W.  G.  Anderson,  who  was  thought  to  be  learned 
in  that  "branch  of  the  profession.  In  fact,  he  had  taken  that 
great  writ  of  right,  which  was  won  from  the  dcs|K)tism  of  the 
world,  for  the  express  purpose  of  releasing  people  from  im- 
prisonment when  their  fundamental  rights  were  violated  in 
their  trial  or  without  a  trial  and  used  it  for  getting  men  re- 
leased upon  mere  technicalities  who  may  have  known  the  whole 
proceedings.  The  fact  that  he  had  successfully  done  this,  how- 
ever, made  the  judges  of  every  degree  look  with  distrust  upon 
his  honest  efforts  to  help  secure  the  right  of  this  deaf  old  man 
to  his  freedom.  Judge  Kohlsaat  fixed  a  date  for  the  hearing 
and  the  State's  attorney  made  oi'.r  attorney  Inrlieve  that  he 
could  not  be  present  and  they  fixed  a  date  themselves  without 
consulting  the  judge.  The  consequence  was,  that  the  judge 
rebuked  them  for  changing  the  date,  and  per-emptorily  refused 
the  hearing,  but  fixed  another  date.  We  therefore  never  had 
a  hearing  before  Judge  Kohlsaat,  and  he  never  knew  the  merits 
of  the  case,  but.  so  far  as  he  did  know,  expressed  g^eat  sym- 
pathy. Before  the  time  fixed  for  the  hearing,  he  fell  sick,  and 
turned  the  case  over  to  Judge  Sanborn,  and  was  absent  from 
the  city  when  we  had  the  hearing,  which  was  very  brief. 
Judge  Sanborn,  simply  said  that,  although  he  had  jurisdiction 
as  a  United  States  Judge,  that  he  would  not  exercise  it  until 
we  had  taken   it  to  the  State  Courts.     He  told  us  that  the 


48  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

state,  and  the  United  States  Courts,  had  in  some  states  got 
into  contention,  when  the  state  courts  resented  what  they 
thought  was  interference  with  their  business.  He  also  was 
the  first  one  who  informed  us  that  if  a  person  was  taken  out  by 
the  United  States  Court  that  the  case  could  be  appealed,  but 
if  taken  out  by  a  state  Court,  that  the  case  was  ended.  Judge 
Sanborn  also  said,  while  we  still  talked  with  him  at  the  close 
of  the  hearing,  that  it  was  all  wrong.  '*  That  if  he  had  been 
trying  the  defendant,  that  he  would  have  had  all  of  the  proceed- 
ings communicated  to  him,  if  it  had  taken  all  summer."  Then 
began  the  search  for  a  judge  who  would  give  us  a  hearing. 
The  great  strike  came  on  and  the  Courts  were  over-crowded 
with  business,  and  our  attorney  was  not  free  to  look  for  a 
judge  outside  on  account  of  the  pressure  of  his  own  business. 
After  weary  weeks  of  waiting  we  came  before  Judge  Honore, 
and  the  Attorney  General  sent  in  a  brief,  setting  forth  that 
a  writ  of  error  was  what  we  needed.  The  judge  decided  that 
if  our  contention  was  correct  that  the  judgment  was  void.  He 
then  said  the  thing  to  do  is  to  expunge  it  from  the  record  and 
go  up  on  a  writ  of  error.  During  all  this  time  I  had  given 
every  leisure  hour  to  reading  law  in  the  great  law  library  in  Chi- 
cago. The  more  I  read  the  more  firmly  I  was  convinced  that 
my  poor  deaf  soldier  brother  had  been  robbed  of  every  right 
guaranteed  to  him  by  the  law  of  Illinois,  the  Constitution  of 
Illinois,  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  I  went  to 
several  judges  and  showed  them  my  cause  and  was  met  by  the 
strange  remark  that  they  had  made  an  agreement  between 
themselves  that  if  one  of  their  number  turned  down  a  case 
that  the  others  would  not  take  it  up.  This  did  not  harmonize 
with  my  reading.  I  had  studied  the  oath  that  the  judges  must 
take  in  order  to  go  on  the  bench,  and  I  could  see  in  this  agree- 
ment, a  chance  for  great  wrong  and  certain  defeat  of  justice. 
Of  course  I  was  discouraged,  my  home  had  been  shut  up,  as 
though  I  was  dead,  for  months,  and  now  that  I  was  fully  con- 
vinced that  we  had  a  right  to  a  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  I  could 


of  George  W.  Felts  49 

get  no  judge  to  offer  anything  but  sympathy  and  the  assur- 
ance that  a  writ  of  error  was  the  better  way.  I  had  already 
found  out  that  the  record  and  fee  would  be  at  least  $700.00 
and  that  the  attorney  for  the  defense  after  collecting  $615.00 
for  the  defense  in  the  trial  court,  said,  that  to  prepare  the  case 
for  the  Supreme  Court,  would  cost  for  his  fee,  $500.00,  and 
that  it  ought  to  be  more.  And  this  would  be  $1200.00,  to  go  up 
on  a  writ  of  error,  and  that  would  be  only  a  beginning.  The 
Constitution  of  the  State  of  Illinois  provides,  in  Section  XIX, 
that: 

"Every  person  ought  to  find  a  certain  remedy,  in  the  law, 
for  all  injuries  and  wrongs  he  may  receive,  in  his  person, 
property,  or  reputation.  He  ought  to  obtain  by  law,  right 
and  justice  freely,  and  without  being  obliged  to  purchase 
it,  completely  and  without  denial,  promptly  and  with- 
out delay."  By  what  hocus  pocus  have  Court  rules 
and  practice  gone  so  far  from  the  letter  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  state,  that  the  citizen  has  to  buy  a  chance  to  even  ask 
for  a  new  trial?  Think  of  $700.00  for  the  transcript  of  evi- 
dence, and  then  of  the  $500.00  to  a  lawyer,  to  ask  for  your 
case  to  be  reviewed,  by  the  Supreme  Court,  with  the  hope  that 
it  will  grant  you  a  new  trial.  It  the  new  trial  should  be  grante*! 
to  you,  then  you  must  pay  another  big  fee  to  an  attorney,  and 
alas,  you  are  still  bound  to  have  the  same  state's  attorney,  for 
even  though  his  falsehoods  put  you  into  prison,  he  is  permitted 
to  keep  you  there  by  the  same  means.  I  have  been  told  that 
a  change  of  venue  still  leaves  you  in  the  hands  of  the  vindictive 
persecutor.  The  law  of  the  state  says  that  the  accused  shall 
have  five  years  in  which  to  go  up  to  the  Supreme  Court.  But 
that  humane  provision  has  been  modified,  for  the  convenience 
of  the  Courts,  by  permitting  the  judge  to  limit  the  time  to  a 
certain  number  of  days,  in  which  the  Bill  of  Exceptions  must 
be  signed  and  the  time  is  fixed  at  the  caprice  of  the  judge, 
rather  than  to  fit  the  needs  of  the  man  who  must  some  way 
provide  for  the  expense  of  the  effort. 


50  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

According  to  the  strict  letter  of  the  law  the  Bill  of  Excep- 
tions are  to  be  written  out  and  signed  day  after  day  while  the 
Court  is  in  session,  as  the  exceptions  are  taken.  That  is  the 
law  and  it  has  never  been  repealed.  At  the  present  time  they 
are  piled  up  in  stenographers  notes  and  the  poor  litigant  is 
compelled  to  pay  an  exorbitant  sum  to  have  them  put  into 
good  English.  As  no  stenographer  is  supposed  to  read  clearlv 
another's  notes,  what  would  happen  if  the  one  who  took  them 
down  should  die.  I  say  that  every  word  of  the  Court  pro- 
cedure should  be  put  into  good  English  day  by  day  as  the  trial 
progresses  and  if  the  stenographer  is  a  necessity  to  the  rapid 
taking  of  the  same,  the  type  writer  should  follow  him  as  trans- 
lator, and  it  should  be  preserved  for  the  consideration  of  the 
jury,  when  they  retire  to  consider  the  case,  instead  of  leaving 
them  to  imperfect  and  confused  memories  of  a  vast  mass  of 
material  filtered  through  the  pernicious  imagination  of  a  State's 
attorney,  who  is  capable  of  measuring  a  man's  freedom  or  his 
life  by  a  paltry  fee,  or,  by  the  value  of  his  own  cheap  fame. 
An  attorney  who  goes  outside  of  the  evidence  would  lose  his 
power  over  a  jury  who  had  a  correct  transcript  of  the  evidence 
before  them  to  refresh  their  memory,  and  no  jury  in  these 
days  of  type-writing  should  be  deprived  of  a  correct  copy  of 
the  evidence  while  they  deliberate  upon  the  question  of  arriv- 
ing at  a  just  conclusion.  The  rich  people  should  have  this 
help  from  the  courts  they  sustain  by  their  taxes,  and  the  man 
of  average  means  so  that  in  trying  to  secure  his  just  rights, 
he  shall  not  be  bankrupted,  and  the  poor  from  humanity  and 
necessity.  While  Comrade  Young  was  trying  to  secure  a 
writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  from  Judge  Kohlsaat,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  intercepting  his  old  army  comrade  on  the  way  to  prison, 
the  time  for  keeping  him  at  the  jail  had  nearly  expired,  and  I 
went  to  Joliet  and  saw  the  Warden  and  told  him  all  about  the 
case,  and  awaited  the  appearance  of  the  sheriff  with  his 
prisoner.  At  noon  the  day  they  arrived  I  took  dinner  with  the 
sheriff,  in  the  private  dining  room  of  the  prison.     He  said 


of  George  W.  Felts  51 

many  things  in  favor  of  my  brother,  and  told  me  that  he  had 
so  much  confidence  in  him  that  if  it  had  been  legal  to  do  so, 
he  would  have  bought  a  ticket  and  sent  him  to  Joliet  alone. 
He  didn't  hand  cufT  him  but  treated  him  as  a  companion  on  the 
way.  He  told  me  with  tears  in  his  eyes  that  he  was  never  so 
sorry  for  anyone  in  his  life.  He  believed  him  to  be  a  good 
man  and  that  he  was  telling  the  truth.  He  said  that  he  read 
and  heard  so  much  against  him  when  he  first  came  to  the  jail 
that  he  kept  away  from  him  and  that  in  their  conversation 
in  the  train  on  the  way  down,  George  reminded  him  of  this  and 
said,  "If  you  had  come  and  examined  my  neck  when  I  first 
came  to  the  jail,  you  would  have  known  that  I  told  the  truth." 
The  sheriflf  said  that  he  should  always  regret  that  he  had  not 
done  so.  Mr.  Wiseman  and  I  called  on  him  in  August  1906, 
as  we  were  looking  up  those  who  had  seen  George  soon  after 
he  was  put  in  the  jail.  In  the  conversation  he  said  that  he  did 
not  pay  any  attention  to  him  for  the  first  week  or  two  after  he 
was  brought  to  jail  except  to  see  that  his  food  was  sent  in,  as 
he  did  not  want  to  put  himself  in  a  position  where  he  might  be 
called  on  the  witness  stand,  having  learnetl  a  lesson  along  that 
line  soon  after  lie  became  sheriff.  He  said  it  is  tlie  business  of 
the  sheriflf  to  take  care  of  the  prisoner  and  not  to  be  a  witness 
in  the  Court.  The  sheriflf  was  so  kindly  disposed  toward  my 
brother  that  1  :<.n\  very  sorry  that  he  did  not  examine  his  neck 
when  he  first  came  to  jail,  for  I  am  sure  that  when  he  saw  the 
deaf  old  soldier  being  taken  through  his  trial  without  having 
any  of  the  proceedings  communicated  to  him  he  would  have 
gladly  testified  to  the  evidence,  that  he  had  acted  in  self-de- 
fense in  the  sad  affair. 

I  was  permitted  to  see  George  about  3  P.  M..  the  day  he 
arrived  at  the  prison.  They  brought  him  into  the  usher's  ofiftce. 
He  was  as  pale  as  when  he  was  brought  home,  so  emaciated 
from  the  army.  He  looked  also  more  as  he  did  then  for  they 
had  shaved  off  his  mustache.  There  were  tears  in  his  eyes, 
but  no  look  of  guilt  or  shame  on  his  face.     As  he  so  often 


U.  OF  ILL  LIB. 


52  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

said  'he  '  had  not  intended  to  harm  anyone,  and  the  whole 
thing  had  been  shoved  onto  him,  and  he  would  try  to  bear  it  like 
a  man  and  put  his  trust  in  the  Lord."  He  said  the  literal 
truth,  when  he  said,  "  there  never  was  anything  bad  about  me 
except  I  drank  a  little."  We  have  to  admit  this  to  our  sorrow, 
but  we  know  that  no  one  who  had  known  him  all  these  years 
could  say  they  ever  saw  him  lying  around  drunk,  and  that  he 
had  accumulated  a  good  property,  and  been  more  generous 
to  family  and  friends  than  most  people  are,  and  we  also  know 
that  he  was  not  drinking  the  night  of  the  trouble,  according 
to  reputable  citizens. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  most  of  those  who  have  been  active 
in  trying  to  tramp  him  under  foot  are  men  given  to  drink,  or 
encouraging  the  use  of  it  by  their  influence,  for  profit.  Others 
are  like  the  man  who  said  his  horse  was  16ft.  high.  When  they 
proved  to  him  that  the  horse  was  only  16  hands  high,  he  as- 
serted himself,  and  declared,  "  what  I  say  first,  I'll  say  last, 
I  said  my  horse  was  16  feet  high  and  it  is  16fect  high." 
Having  thought  it  would  be  the  popular  thing  to  slander  and 
abuse  this  deaf  old  soldier,  they  now  think,  by  a  great  effort 
they  still  can  get  a  few  persons  to  believe  a  wholly  unreason- 
able thing,  against  the  most  conclusive  evidence. 

Kind  hearted  people  will  be  pleased  to  know  that  the 
prison  garb  is  a  neat  gray  suit,  and  that  they  have  also  abol- 
ished the  lock  step,  and  the  prisoners  march  two  abreast  like 
soldiers.  The  most  of  them  are  wholesome,  nice  looking  men. 
There  are  many  quite  young  men,  and  except  for  a  sad  look  on 
niost  faces  one  would  suppose  that  they  were  a  company  of 
students.  So  they  are,  students  in  one  of  the  hard  schools  of 
human  experience.  But  no  harder  than  the  one  my  poor  old 
brother  was  in,  during  the  whole  period  of  his  married  life. 
Many  men  are  veritable  pack-horses  and  beasts  of  burden  for 
their  families  and  when  they  are  not  appreciated,  and  never 
have  a  day  of  recreation  or  a  particle  of  genuine  sympathy, 
I  am  never  surprised  when  they  are  broken  in  spirit,  and  my 


of  George  W.  Felts  53 

only  wonder  is,  in  viewing  life  from  that  standpoint,  that  more 
men  do  not  go  wrong,  and  that  more  do  not  commit  suicide. 
1  hope  no  one  who  reads  these  pages,  will  ever  experience  the 
sorrow  that  filled  my  heart.  I  looked  upon  my  poor  deaf 
brother  in  prison,  and  remembered  that  we  had  sat  like  im- 
beciles, and  seen  him  dragged  through  his  trial  for  nearly  two 
weeks,  and  knew  that  nothing  had  been  communicated  to  him, 
and  now  I  know  that  he  had  been  cheated  out  of  the  very 
rights  that  would  be  accorded  to  a  man  who  could  hear,  and 
worse  than  all  that,  I  had  foolishly  kept  silent  as  to  the  con- 
dition of  his  neck,  which  if  the  jury  had  known,  it  would  no 
doubt  have  resulted  in  his  acquittal.  That  is  the  thing  that  I 
cannot  forgive  in  myself;  but  I  had  no  opportunity  to  tell 
it,  yet  that  does  not  seem  an  excuse  now.  If  the  reader  has 
never  been  a  witness  in  a  court  he  will  not  know  how  helpless 
he  would  be.  It  is  almost  imjMDssible  to  tell  the  truth  as  you 
see  it,  and  know  it,  as  the  questions  are  asked  on  purpose, 
part  of  the  time,  to  conceal  the  truth.  I  will  leave  that  how- 
ever for  another  time  and  another  book.  I  was  asked  a  lot 
of  (jucstions  in  no  way  pertaining  to  the  case.  Then  when  I 
began  to  tell  in  answer  to  the  questions  of  the  State's  attorney 
the  truth,  in  regard  to  the  case,  he  was  determined  that  I 
should  not  do  so.  He  then  demanded  that  I  give  the  names 
of  people  whom  I  had  described  by  the  term,  '*  many  people." 
I  did  not  wish  to  do  this  because  I  knew  those  people  did  not 
want  to  be  dragged  in^^  the  case,  and  the  jxiint  would  be 
amply  proven  by  the  witnesses  to  be  presented.  The  judge 
sustained  him  however. 

I  started  in,  intending  to  mention  all  I  could  remember 
and  they  would  have  been  at  least  forty,  but  I  was  stopped 
about  the  first  name,  or  while  I  was  trying  to  say  the  second. 
This  left  the  first  man  mentioned  to  feel  as  though^  he  had  to 
bear  what  the  whole  forty  had  said  and  he  happened  to  be  a 
man  who,  as  I  was  told  the  next  day,  "  went  up  in  to  the  air  " 
what   ever  that   means,  and  his   personal   friends   went  up  in 


54  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

the  air  with  him,  and  so  to  punish  me  they  wish  to  keep  the 
deaf  old  soldier  in  prison  whether  he  had  a  legal  trial  or  not. 
or  whether  he  is  guilty  or  not.  Some  men  had  said  to  me  that 
they  would  like  to  testify  against  the  truthfulness  of  witness 
Hodges,  but  were  afraid  he  would  "  burn  them  out."  An- 
other had  said  that  he  would  not  like  to  do  it  solely  because 
he  would  put  himself,  or  his  family,  or  his  property,  in  jeopardy, 
and  not  being  allowed  to  go  on  and  explain  exactly  what  each 
one  said  according  to  my  understanding  of  the  matter,  the 
man  who  used  the  word  ''jeopardy  "  vows  he  did  not  use  the 
word  "  burn  "  and  so  I  am  blamed  when  I  have  been  a  friend 
all  my  life  to  these  persons.  I  did  not  know  that  the  person.- 
who  signed  the  paper  would  be  brought  to  court  as  witnesses, 
but  supposed  the  paper,  attested  by  us,  would  be  used,  and  I 
was  glad  to  do  it,  to  prevent  dragging  them  down  twenty 
miles  or  more  in  the  coldest  part  of  the  winter.  That  they 
were  subpoenaed  was  a  more  painful  surprise  to  me  than  it  was 
to  them.  They  ought  to  take  into  consideration  the  limita- 
tions of  a  witness,  and  have  some  sympathy  for  me  in  my  lack 
of  experience  with  the  type  of  being  that  the  State's  attorney 
represents.  The  wicked  slanderers  of  this  deaf  old  soldier  have 
caught  at  every  chance  to  belittle  and  degrade  him,  and  started 
one  rumor  after  another  to  if  possible  turn  every  one  against 
him,  and  at  last  their  unreasonable  falsehoods  have  reacted  and 
made  friends  for  him  of  many  who  were  at  first  indifferent  to 
his  fate. 

Some  time  after  the  war  closed  when  his  good  ear  as  he 
called  it  was  about  restored  he  became  a  commercial  traveler 
for  several  years.  During  this  time  he  was  staying  in  Dixon. 
Illinois  over  Sunday,  and  went  to  see  a  public  baptizing  cere- 
mony in  the  river.  A  large  number  of  people  were  standing 
on  the  bridge  when  a  span  of  it  fell  into  the  river,  carrying 
with  it  se^jeral  hundred  people.  Though  he  could  not  swim, 
he  immediately  plunged  into  the  water,  together  with  others 
who  could  swim,  and  he  waded  in  to  his  chin  and  took  out  all 
he  could  reach,  and  others,  that  those  who  could  swim,  brought 


of  George  W.  Felts  55 

within  his  reach.  Sometimes  having  two  of  them  in  his  hands 
at  once.  He  never  mentioned  this  to  me  in  his  hfe.  I  heard 
it  from  others  and  when  I  asked  him  about  it,  he  said. 
"  that  is  nothing,  anybody  would  or  should  have  done  it.  I 
helped  to  save  from  twenty  to  thirty." 

Just  as  his  army  service  has  been  belittled  by  the  State's 
attorney  so  the  same  coterie  of  busy-bodies  began  to  worry 
about  this  heroic  deed  at  Dixon  and  claimed  he  was  trying  to 
exploit  it  to  gain  favor  with  the  people  when  the  poor  fellow 
did  not  know  that  anyone  remembered  it,  and  did  not  know 
that  it  was  going  around  in  the  press.  I  did  not  know  that  it 
was  floating  about  and  found  out  after  a  time  that  some  of 
his  old  army  comrades  had  been  telling  about  it  and  were  prop- 
erly angry  to  have  him  censured  for  something  that  he  had 
been  in  ignorance  of,  and  that  he  would  not  have  thought  of 
bringing  out  in  his  present  humiliating  situation. 

He  has  suffered,  in  silence  for  years,  neglect,  and  insult, 
and  loss,  and  toil,  to  find  that  his  good  deeds  all  his  long  life 
are  ignored  or  belittled  by  men  and  women  who  are  of  so  in- 
human a  type  of  character  that  they  enjoy  seeing  others 
crushed.  There  are  not  many  people  so  low  as  that,  and  even 
the  company  of  convicts  is  safer  and  better  than  such  society. 
Most  people  when  appearing  so  cruel,  are  deceived.  It  is  only 
a  few  who  will  refuse  their  sympathy  when  they  know  the 
truth. 

*'  How  can  a  poor  man  go  up  on  a  writ  of  error  "  we  have 
often  said,  and  now  we  have  found  out  that  both  rich  and  poor 
are  notified  that  the  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  has  been  degraded 
from  its  high  place,  in  the  temple  of  Justice,  and  instead  ot 
being  used  when  a  fundamental  right  is  withheld,  has  been 
perverted,  until  it  has  become  a  sort  of  a  spy  glass  to  hunt  for 
a  mere  verbal  error  in  a  sentence,  or  a  phrase,  making  a  loop 
hole  for  the  escape  of  those,  who  may  have  had  a  fair  trial 
and  who  may  have  known  all  the  proceedings,  and  who  have 
had  every  chance  to  defend  themselves. 


56  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

Consider  the  case  we  are  describing  to  you.  It  was  the 
•  sworn  duty  of  the  State's  attorney  to  see  that  the  rights  of  the 
accused  were  secured  at  every  stage  of  the  proceedings  from 
the  time  he  was  arrested.  Yet  this  deaf  old  soldier  was  not  per- 
mitted to  appear  at  the  Coroner's  inquest  and  confront  his  ac- 
cusers, nor  was  one  word  communicated  to  him  during  the  pre- 
limmary  trial,  of  all  that  his  accusers  said,  nor  did  this  State's 
attorney  deign  to  notice  the  defendant  in  the  trial  Court  by 
so  much  as  arranging  that  the  proceedings  of  the  trial  should 
be  communicated  to  him  from  the  time  the  jury  was  being 
selected,  until  the  verdict  was  brought  in.  Nor  was  one  word 
of  the  judges  instructions,  communicated  to  the  defendant, 
while  men  have  been  taken  out  on  Habeas  Corpus,  because 
even  a  few  words  were  said  to  the  jury  that  the  defendant  did 
not  hear.  He  has  several  times  sought  to  place  upon  the  at- 
torney for  the  defendant  the  responsibility  for  his  inhuman 
and  unjust  action.  Whoever  else  may  share  in  this  iniquitous 
performance  the  State's  attorney  is  the  sworn  officer  of  the 
state  whose  duty  it  is  to  see  that  the  rights  of  the  accused  citi- 
zens are  preserved. 

Did  this  outrage  happen  in  Russia?  where  constitutions 
are  a  dream  of  the  future,  and  the  rights  of  the  accused  citi- 
zen a  matter  of  caprice?  O  no.  This  happened  under  the 
stars  and  stripes,  in  the  great  state  of  Illinois,  in  opposition 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  opposition  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  State,  in  opposition  to  the  Common  Law, 
on  which  both  constitutions  are  founded,  and  in  opposition  to 
a  specific  statute  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  Article  IV.  ,of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  Section  2.  provides  that; 
"  The  citizens  of  each  state  shall  be  entitled  to  all  privileges 
and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  states.  This  provi- 
sion of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  prohibits  dis- 
crimination against  a  deaf  person,  or  any  other  citizen  when 
on  trial.  If  the  state  should  pass  a  law  authorizing  such  gross 
injustice  to  be  practiced  on  a  deaf  person,  or  upon  a  foreigner 
who  does  not  understand  the  English  language,  as  to  try  him 


of  George  W.  Felts  57 

without  communicating  or  interpreting  the  proceedings  to 
him,  that  law  would  be  unconstitutional.  Since  the  established 
practice  in  the  colonies  and  in  the  states  since  the  Union  was 
formed  was,  and  is,  that  every  person  when  on  trial,  shall  know 
the  details  of  that  trial,  in  which  his  life,  liberty,  or  other  in- 
terests are  involved,  as  the  case  progresses.  Any  trial  con- 
ducted in  any  other  way,  anywhere  in  the  United  States,  is 
illegal,  and  the  judgment  void.  That  has  been  the  uniform 
decision  of  the  higher  courts,  in  every  state  and  the  unanimous 
opinion  of  the  judges  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  up  to  the  year  of  our  Lord  1906,  Article  VI. 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  shall 
be  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  shall  be  the  Supreme  Law 
of  the  land,  the  judges  in  every  slate,  shall  be  bound  thereby, 
anytliing  in  the  Constitution  or  the  laws  of  any  state,  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding.  These  provisions  alone  should  have 
secured  to  this  deaf  old  soldier  a  just,  and  humane  considera- 
tion, from  the  moment  of  his  arrest.  How  could  we  be  so  igno- 
rant of  these  mandates  of  the  Supreme  law  of  the  land.  Had 
the  State's  attorney  never  read  Article  \T^  Amendments  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  providing  that;  in  all 
criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a 
speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury;  he  shall  be  in- 
formed of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation ;  he  shall  be 
confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him;  and  shall  have  the 
assistance  of  counsel  for  his  defense,  li'itncsses  are  not  such, 
except  as  to  what  they  say.  If  the  accused  does  not  know 
zchat  they  say,  he  is  not  confronted  by  them.  It  is  true,  and 
was  conceded  by  the  court,  that  he  did  not  know  the  pro- 
ceedings of  his  trial,  on  account  of  his  infirmity  of  deafness, 
yet  he  proceeded  to  sentence  him,  having  the  sheriff  repeat  the 
sentence  through  the  eartube,  after  he  had  frankly  declared  that 
under  the  circumstances,  "  it  is  practically  impossible  for  me  to 
say  anything  to  this  defendant."  Why?  Because  the  defend- 
ant could  not  hear.  There  is  no  impediment  in  the  Judge's 
speech,  hut  it  would  be  very  awkward  to  make  an  address  to 


58  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

him,  through  the  eartube.  It  does  not  take  a  lawyer  to  dis- 
cover, in  the  plain  statements  of  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States  the  determination  of  our  fathers  to  secure  for  their  pos- 
terity, the  justice,  equality,  liberty  and  humanity  of  their  price- 
less heritage,  the  Common  Law ;  but  to  make  more  certain  of 
it,  they  added  Article  IX.  "  The  enumeration  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  certain  rights,  shall  not  be  construed  to  deny,  or  dis- 
parage, others  retained  by  the  people."  Not  only  does  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  accept  the  long  established 
Court  procedure  of  the  Common  Law  in  criminal  cases  but  it 
provides  in  Amendments  Article  VII.  that  ''  where  the  value 
in  controversy  shall  exceed  twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial 
by  jury  shall  be  preserved."  The  same  Article  also  provides 
that;  ''no  fact  tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined 
in  any  court  of  the  United  States,  than  according  to  the  rules 
of  the  Common  Law."  The  XIV.  Amendment  to  the  Consti- 
tution provides  that ;  "  all  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the 
United  States,  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  cit- 
izens of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  state  wlicre  they  re- 
side. No  state  ^hall  make  or  enforce  any  law,  which  shall 
abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities,  of  citizens  of  the  United 
States;  nor  shall  any  state  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty, 
or  property,  without  due  process  of  law,  nor  deny  to  any  per- 
son within  its  jurisdiction,  the  equal  protection  of  the  laws." 
"  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce,  by  appropriate  legis- 
lation, the  provisions  of  this  Article."  George  W.  I-'elts  is  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States.  Shall  we  be  compelled  to  go  to 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  secure  his  rights? 

If  state's  attorneys  are  permitted  to  nullify  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  and  the  Constitution  of  the  state, 
and  substitute  their  individual  notions  and  caprices  and  pre- 
judices for  established  law  what  can  result  but  anarchy? 

How  long  before  we  shall  see  the  following  advertisement 
distributed  throughout  the  world? 

Lost. — Liberal  Reward — . 


of  George  W.  Felts  59 

Lost  from  the  courts  of  the  great  Republic  of  America,  One 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  also  One  Constitution  of 
the  State  of  Illinois.  Believed  to  have  been  carried  into  the 
Kingdom  of  Anarchy,  by  conspirators  against  the  Peace  and 
Welfare  of  Humanity.  Among  the  conspirators  are  known  to 
be  the  following,  Cowardly  and  corrupt  judges;  persecuting 
and  perjured  State's  attorneys;  perjured  witnesses,  etc.,  etc., 
all  these  (encouraged  by  a  large  number  of  indifferent  people, 
who  generally  describe  themselves  as  "  too  good,"  or  "  not 
good  enough,")  are  believed  to  have  stolen  and  hidden  these 
priceless  treasures." 

I  am  afraid  it  will  take  more  than  advertising  to  get  them 
back,  but  if  indeed  they  are  thus  regained,  or  we  find  that  we 
have  mislaid  them  somewhere,  in  our  mad  rush  to  *'  get  there  " 
where  ever  that  may  be,  I  think  it  will  take  more  than  adver- 
tising to  keep  them.  **  Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty." 
and  that  "the  Goberlins  will  get  you  if  you  don't  watch  out," 
is  .something  more  than  a  nursery  joke.  It  won't  make  any  dif- 
ference how  innocent  you  may  be,  nor  what  you  can  prove 
when  the  State's  attorney  is  allowed  to  be  the  star  witness^  and 
have  the  closing  speech,  and  the  jury  with  no  report  of  the 
evidence  to  refresh  their  memor)'  are  under  the  impression 
that  he  is  oath  bound  to  tell  only  the  truth  and  keep  within  the 
evidence.  He  will  have  twenty  dollars  for  convicting  the  ac- 
cused, and  the  sinless  Christ  was  sold  for  about  $15.00,  by  just 
such  traffickers  in  human  life  and  liberty;  therefore  you  should 
not  complain. 

One  of  the  primary  rules  of  the  Common  Law  is  to  accord 
to  the  accused  person  the  right  to  know  the  whole  proceedings 
of  the  trial  in  which  his  life,  or  his  liberty,  or  his  property  i-^ 
at  stake.  The  United  States  has  never  repealed  the  Common 
Law  nor  granted  the  right  of  any  State  to  do  so;  but  on  the 
contrary,  has  expressed  its  abiding  purpose,  to  render  inoper- 
ative the  Constitution,  or  the  law  of  any  State,  that  shall  at- 
tempt to  annul  the  same.  Under  the  Common  Law  procedure, 
it  is  always  conceded,  that  the  accused  has  the  right  to  know  all 


60 


Trial  and  Imprisonment 


that  his  accusers  say,  while  they  are  witnessing,  whether  before 
a  coroner's  jury,  or  in  a  preliminary  trial,  or  in  the  trial  ceurt. 
where  he  is  to  be  acquitted  or  convicted.  According  to  the  Con- 
stitution both  of  the  state  and  nation,  where  ever  his  ac- 
cusers appear  the  accused  has  the  right  also  to  appear  and  to 
know  all  tliat  the  witnesses  say,  and  the  whole  proceedings  of 
the  Court  that  deals  with  his  interests.  Wherever  this  is 
neelected,  the  convicted  has  been  taken  out  on  habeas  corpus, 
or  granted  a  new  trial.  I  have  read  many  interesting  cases 
during  the  last  two  years,  where  the  higher  courts  have  de- 
clared the  judgment  void,  because  the  accused  did  not  hear  a 
few  words  of  the  proceedings.  In  one  case  after  a  fair  trial, 
in  which  the  accused  was  found  guilty,  he  ran  away  just  as 
they  were  bringing  in  the  verdict.  The  judge  pronounced  the 
sentence  in  his  absence.  He  was  afterward  arrested,  but  was 
released  the  judgment  being  held  "to  be  void  because  he  was 
absent  and  did  not  hear  the  sentence.  Nothing  further  could 
be  done  with  him,  as  according  to  the  Constitution,  no  one 
can  be  put  in  jeopardy  twice  for  the  same  offense.  In  an- 
other case  the  judge  was  called  up  by  the  jury  in  the  night  to 
instruct  them  on  a  certain  point.  The  defendant's  attorney 
was  present  but  the  accused  was  not  wakened  and  brought 
in  to  hear  what  the  judge  said.  The  trial  went  on  and  the 
accused  was  convicted.  The  judgment  was  declared  void  by 
the  supreme  court,  because  the  accused  had  not  heard  that 
small  part  of  the  proceedings,  the  judge's  instructions  on  a 
single  point.  There  are  many  similar  cases,  showing  the  ex- 
treme care  with  which  the  Constitution  and  the  Common  Law 
seek  to  guard  the  rights  of  the  people.  The  deaf  old  soldier 
did  not  hear  or  read  one  word  of  the  judges  instructions,  nor 
any  other  part  of  the  proceedings.  Whether  the  accused  per- 
son was  worthy  or  unworthy,  whether  he  was  a  kind-hearted 
natural  gentleman,  like  George  W.  Felts,  who,  according  to 
forty-one  of  the  chief  citizens  of  his  town,  had  always  been 
a  laAv-abiding  peaceable  citizen,  or  whether  he  was  a  common 
thug,  of  the  most  degraded  order  he  was,  according  to  the 


of  George  W.  Felts  61 

accepted  law  of  this  great  State  to  be  considered  innocent  until 
he  was  proven  guilty,  and  had  the  right  to  know  ail  that  was 
said  in  his  trial  from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  For  hundreds 
of  years,  according  to  the  course  of  the  Common  Law,  the 
procedure,  in  the  case  of  a  deaf  person,  when  on  trial,  has  been, 
to  communicate  to  the  accused,  by  the  best  method,  every  word 
of  the  proceedings.  If  he  could  read  writing,  everything  was 
carefully  written  out  for  him  as  the  trial  progressed.  If  he 
could  read  only  printing,  this  tedious  method  with  its  delays, 
was  the  legal  way.  If  he  knew  the  sign  language,  a  person 
who  also  knew  that  method  of  interpreting  was  sworn  to  repeat 
correctly,  the  proceedings  to  him,  as  the  trial  progressed,  and 
to  repeat  to  the  Court  his  questions  and  answers. 

The  Constitution  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  is  in  perfect  ac- 
cord with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  so  far  as  ju- 
dicial procedure  is  concerned,  by  special  agreement  and  or- 
dinance as  well  as  by  mandate.  When  the  territory  Northwest  of 
the  Ohio  river  was  organized,  there  was  a  contract  between  the 
original  states  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  territory,  that  should 
forever  remain  unalterable,  except  by  common  consent.  No 
such  consent  has  ever  been  asked  or  granted.  Said  compact 
was  embodied  in  the  ordinance  of  July  13th.  1787.  It  held 
among  other  things,  that :  The  inhabitants  of  said  territory 
shall  always  be  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  and  of  a  trial  by  jury,  and  of  judicial  process  accord- 
ing to  the  course  of  the  common  law. 

The  enabling  act  passed  by  Congress  in  1818,  provided 
that  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  Illinois  should  not  be  re- 
pugnant to  the  ordinance  of  1787  between  the  original  states 
and  the  territory  and  states.  This  was  duly  ratified,  by  the 
state  of  Illinois,  and  its  Constitution  was  therefore  by  agree- 
ment based  on  the  Common  Law,  and  specifically  declared  that 
the  right  to  defend  life  and  liberty  and  property  are  inherent 
and  that  "  the  right  to  trial  by  jury  as  heretofore  enjoyed  shall 
remain  inviolate."  Illinois  adopted  a  new  Constitution  in  1870, 
not  to  lessen  respect  for  the  Common  Law  and  the  national 


62  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

Consitution,  but  to  more  fully  indorse  and  substain  both.  That 
Constitution  provides  that  the  accused  shall  have  the  right  to 
appear  and  defend  in  person  and  by  counsel.  How  can  a  deaf 
person  defend  in  person,  when  he  does  not  know  what  is  being 
said  against  him  by  the  witnesses  ?  How  can  his  counsel  in- 
telligently defend  him  when  he  is  not  able  to  inform  said 
counsel  whether  the  witnesses  are  stating  the  truth  or  not  in 
time  for  cross  examination?  It  is  manifestly  absurd.  Every 
principle  of  justice  would  be  sacrificed  in  such  a  case. 

No  statute  has  ever  been  passed  In  Illinois  attempting  to 
abridge  or  annul  the  wise  Common  Law  provisions  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  and  of  Illinois  to  secure  to  an 
accused  person,  just  and  humane  treatment,  but  a  statute  ha*i 
been  passed  emphasizing  them  long  ago,  and  it  has  never  been 
repealed.  In  the  revised  statutes  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  lead- 
ing down  to  1906,  you  will  find  on  page  745  the  following  stat- 
ute. 

"  All  trials  for  criminal  ofiFenses  shall  be  conducted  accord- 
ing to  the  course  of  the  Common  Law,  ^nd  the  rules  of  evi- 
dence of  the  Common  Law  shall  also  be  binding  upon  all  Courts 
and  Juries,  in  criminal  cases  except  as  otherwise  provided  by 
law."  Such  a  law,  of  course,  would  have  to  be  in  harmony 
with  the  Constitution,  not  opposed  to  it,  nor  to  the  established 
rights  of  the  accused  according  to  the  Common  Law  procedure. 
A  state  may  change  its  laws  and  its  Constitution,  but  not  with- 
hold rights,  conceded  to  the  accused,  before  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution,  nor  abridge  or  deny  a  right  guaranteed  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  How  did  it  happen 
then  that  such  a  travesty  of  justice  as  the  George  Felts  trial 
was  possible  in  the  L'nited  States  and  especially  in  the  state 
of  Illinois  ?  Can  a  court  procedure  annul  the  great  charter  of 
our  liberties,  the  Supreme  Law  of  the  land?  when  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  State,  and  the  statute  of  the  State  dare  not  do 
it?  The  law  in  the  matter  is  that  all  court  rules  and  court  prac- 
tice must  be  according  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
and  the  laws  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  not  in  opposition 


of  George  W.  Felts  63 

thereof,  and  in  obedience  to  the  Constitution  of  the  state  and 
the  statutes  made  in  pursuance  thereof.  The  judiciary  is  not 
the  legislative  branch  of  this  government.  Some  people  sup- 
pose it  is  and  act  accordingly.  A  very  plausible  apologist  for 
the  irresponsible  behavior  of  some  of  our  courts  said  *'  the  evo- 
lution of  our  judical  system  will  account  for  these  changes." 
His  idea  suggested  to  my  mind  a  new  term — devilution — the 
definition  of  which  is, — a  solution  of  deviltry.  Think  of  the 
evolution  of  a  man  into  a  monkey,  or  of  a  monkey  into  a  man, 
and  then  of  that  man  into  a  devil,  and  you  will  have  a  faint 
idea  of  the  difference  between  the  Sir  Matthew  Hales  of  the 
Bench,  and  some  of  the  modern  wise-acres  thereon  who  do 
not  know  a  provision  of  the  Constitution  from  the  imbecile 
opinion  of  a  mere  time  server,  and  don't  know  that  the  dis- 
obedience of  a  judge  or  a  state's  attorney  to  the  mandates  of 
the  Constitution  and  the  laws  is  a  greater  sin  than  that  they 
judge  and  condemn  in  others. 

They  destroy  the  hopes  of  the  world  and  introduce  the  king- 
dom of  anarchy,  through  all  the  channels  where  government  is 
applied.  Most  of  us  are  blind  as  bats  to  the  sorrowful  truth, 
that  we,  who  boast  so  loudly  of  our  free  government  have 
permitted  the  most  irresponsible  autocracy  that  the  world  has 
ever  known  to  grow  right  up  into  the  heart  of  our  Republic  and 
set  aside  justice  and  the  Constitution  at  will.  The  autocracy 
of  the  Courts  may  be  a  new  term,  but  it  describes  an  older  con- 
dition than  many  know,  yet  many  of  the  most  loyal  and  wise 
citizens  are  becoming  alarmed  at  the  steadily  encroaching  powe; 
of  this  autocracy  that  must  not  be  questioned  however  illegal 
its  actions  or  unjust  its  decisions.  "  The  ten  commandments 
will  not  budge,  said  Lowell."  Neither  will  the  Constitution 
"  budge,"  but  to  use  a  slang  expression  the  people  have  "  got 
a  move  on  them,"  an  impetus  that  will  not  be  stopped,  and 
they  are  coming  three  hundred  thousand  strong  with  the  war 
cry  "  back  to  the  Constitution,"  Equal  rights  in  the  Courts, 
"  Equal  protection  by  the  Courts."  This  most  insidious  and 
terrible  rebellion  of  the  Courts  against  the  legislative  branch 


64  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

of  the  government  and  against  the  Constitution  must  go.  The 
people  and  that  will  soon  mean  everybody  except  a  few  who 
have  sold  their  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage,  are  going  to 
unite  in  a  People's  Law  School,  and  Constitutional  League,  a 
Grand  Army  of  Peace,  whose  business  it  will  be  to  know  their 
rights  under  the  Supreme  Law  of  the  land  and  to  know  how 
to  maintain  them.  The  present  methods  of  ligitation  are  sys- 
tematized robbery  of  the  people  and  they  are  rapidly  finding  it 
out,  and  one  of  the  first  things  they  will  do  will  be  to  quit  liti- 
gation, and  the  next  thing  will  be  to  combine  against  the 
methods  that  impoverish  those  who  must  in  self  defense  go  be- 
fore the  Courts.  ''  My  people  are  destroyed  through  ignor- 
ance." said  the  Holy  One  in  sacred  writ.  Surely  it  is  true  of 
our  people,  who  do  not  know  the  foundations  of  Law  and 
Order  and  Justice  and  Humanity  provided  for  us  in  the  Com- 
mon Law  and  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  made  in  pursuance 
thereof. 

The  Common  Law  is  the  embodiment  of  the  experience  of 
the  best  men  the  world  has  known  in  their  struggle  to  secure 
equal  justice,  equal  rights,  and  an  equal  chance  for  every  man. 
It  is  the  basis  of  every  constitution,  and  of  all  judical  proced- 
ure, and  without  it,  or  obedience  to  its  provisions  not  only 
revolution  would  ensue,  but  dissolution  of  free  government 
would  be  inevitable. 

You  will  find,  from  a  multitude  of  accepted  authorities 
that  the  settled  practice,  in  all  English  speaking  countries,  is 
to  have  everything  communicated  to  a  deaf  person  when  on 
trial,  by  the  best  method,  and  if  there  is  no  way  to  convey  to 
the  deaf  person  the  details  of  the  trial,  so  that  he  can  fullv 
understand  them,  that  he  cannot  be  tried.  He  is  then  considered 
non  sane,  and  a  guardian  appointed  for  him  who  is  responsible 
for  his  good  behavior,  in  some  cases.  I  gathered  from  the  Di- 
gests of  the  Decisions  of  the  higher  Courts,  and  from  the  Uni- 
ted States  reports,  and  the  reports  of  the  various  state  courts 
and  the  Courts  of  Great  Britain,  everything  that  has  been  pre- 
served on  this  subject,  and  know  whereof  I  write.     I  am  not 


of  George  W.  Felts  65 

-imply  describing  an  obsolete  method  for<^^otten  before  your 
grandfather's  time ;  but  the  method  pursued  today  in  the  other 
states,  and  in  the  courts  of  Ilhnois  and,  I  am  informed,  that 
this  has  been  the  method  pursued  in  the  courts  of  Winnebago 
county  before  the  present  State's  attorney  invented  the  sHck 
and  easy  way  practiced  upon  this  deaf  old  soldier,  because 
as  he  says  "  the  method  of  interpretation  necessary  would 
involve  great  delay." 

The  State's  attorney  i^  in  legal  charge  of  the  case  from 
the  time  that  the  arrest  is  made  until  the  prisoner  is  convicted  or 
freed.     The  judge  does  not  come  into  the  case  until  the  trial 
«:ourt  is  in  session  and  then  he  is  in  no  sense  a  substitute  for 
the  State's  attorney,  but  the  latter's  obligation  continues,  and 
trying  to  shift  upon   the  attorney   for  the  defense   his   own 
neglect  of  his  solemn  oath,  acting  for  the  state,  to  secure  to  an 
accused  citizen  "  equal  rights  "  and  "  equal  protection  "  guar- 
anteed to  him  by  both  state  and  nafion,  will  deceive  no  one. 
Every  judge  we  came  before  declared  that  the  deaf  should 
have  all  the  details  of  the  trial  communicated  to  him  as  the 
case  progressed,  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
declared  that  **  it  was  an  uncontradicted  fact  that  this  unfort- 
unate man  was  sentenced  to  imprisonment  although  he  did  not 
hear  a  word  of  the  evidence."    That  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
the  testimony  was  not  repeated  to  him  "  yet  that  his  onlv  relief 
is  to  be  found  in  a  writ  of  error.     But  the  State's  attorney, 
with  the  glee  of  a  hunter  who  has  trapped  a  wounded  deer, 
refused  to  open  the  door  and  let  this  deaf  old  man  go  up  to 
the  Supreme  Court  on  a  writ  of  error,  after  the  friends  of  the 
old  soldiers  had  contributed  the  money  to  get  the  record  and 
liill  of  Exceptions.    He  succeeded  by  terrible  falsehoods  in  hav- 
ing him  convicted  and  now  he  may  succeed  by  the  delays  he  has 
forced  upon  the  board  of  pardons  in  having  the  suffering  man 
die  in  prison.     Yet  he  says  that  he  can  readilv  admit  that  the 
'Id  man  did  not  intend  to  kill  Post."    Where  then  is  the  excuse 
for  continuing  in  the  prison  a  man  who  has  not  long  to  live 


66  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

and   who   has   been   two   years   and  a   half   suffering  a   cruel 
punishment  for  something  he  did  not  intend  to  do. 

I  have  enlisted  in  the  war  against  injustice  and  iniquity 
in  high  places,  and  while  I  may  make  some  mistakes,  I  do  not 
intend  to  do  anything  that  I  cannot  lay  before  our  Father  in 
Heaven  with  the  faith  of  a  child  and  the  courage  of  a  martyr. 
I  begin  to  see  the  overruling  hand  of  Providence  in  casting  us 
into  this  veritable  furnace  of  fire.  Often  in  our  mission  work, 
I  have  thought  of  the  saying  of  our  Master,  "  I  was  sick  and 
in  prison  and  ye  visited  me  not,"  and  it  seemed  to  me  that,  that 
was  the  one  place  I  was  not  allowed  to  visit.  Then  the  great 
horror  fell  upon  me,  of  the  trial  and  imprisonment  of  this  deaf, 
old,  soldier  brother,  whose  innocence  could  have  been  estab- 
lished, if  he  had  been  accorded  the  rights  that  every  other  citi- 
zen has  when  on  trial  in  the  courts  of  this  state.  Mr.  Wiseman 
and  I  have  been  treated  like  outcasts  and  fools  by  this  State\« 
attorney,  who  no  longer  cares  that  we  know  his  falsehoods  and 
injustice  and  cruelty,  because  he  believes  that  his  office  will 
shield  him  from  exposure  and  censure.  We  have  both  worked 
all  our  lives  in  every  possible  way  to  benefit  humanity  but  only 
lately  have  we  discovered  the  sources  of  tyranny  and  oppres- 
sion that  yearly  wreck  the  lives  of  many  thousands  of  innocent 
people.  The  accused  is  to  be  considered  innocent  until  he  is 
"  proven  guilty,"  but  now  the  State's  attorney  in  some  courts  is 
allowed  to  slander  and  convict  not  only  the  accused  but  to  in- 
vent and  circulate  any  villification  that  his  evil  imagination 
may  suggest.  This  State's  attorney  was  not  content  in  the 
same  statement  to  say  that  "  the  old  man  can  hear  what  people 
say,"  and  then  assert  that  the  fact  that  "  he  cannot  hear  makes 
him  irritable  "  but  declares  that  he  comes  of  a  deaf  family. 
Our  beautiful,  pure  minded  religious  mother  had  fourteen  chil- 
dren, every  one  in  the  full  possession  of  their  senses  and  healtn> 
and  symmetrical.  Eleven  of  them  are  living  and  not  one  of 
them  is  deaf,  except  George,  though  one  of  them,  a  sister  has 
been  hard  of  hearing  for  a  number  of  years  caused  by  a  severe 
illness  long  after  she  was  of  age.     One  member  of  the  family 


of  George  W.  Felts  67 

is  slightly  lame  caused  by  an  accident  that  might  happen  to 
even  a  State's  attorney.  Before  the  jur^-  and  before  the  Board 
of  Pardons  he  exploited  this  falsehood  of  '*  a  deaf  family." 
What  has  that  got  to  do  with  the  monstrous  injustice  of  his 
taking  any  citizen  through  his  trial  and  not  providing  that  the 
proceedings  shall  be  interpreted  to  him  in  the  best  way  to 
make  him  understand  all  the  details  as  the  law  requires?  One 
of  our  cousins  sent  me  word  that  we  ought  to  "  concede  the 
point  that  the  husband  of  one  of  our  aunts  was  deaf."  No 
ancestor  so  far  back  as  we  know,  was  deaf.  One  might  well 
wish  to  be  deaf  when  this  bombastic  State's  attorney  indulges 
in  the  coarse  abuse  that  he  imagines  is  legal  argument.  When 
the  judge  said  in  sentencing  the  deaf  old  soldier,  **  It  is  to  be  re- 
gretted, in  one  sense,  that  the  defendant  has  not  known  clearly 
what  has  been  done,  on  account  of  his  infirmity,"  I  wondered 
whether  a  man  who  could  hear  would  have  been  called  upon  to 
listen  to  such  a  vile  tirade  of  untruth  and  vindictive  insult.  T 
do  not  believe  he  would.  I  have  since  the  trial  found  out  that 
the  whole  procedure  is  exceptional,  and  that  there  are  many 
men  who  as  State's  attorney >  take  every  care  to  stay  inside  of 
the  evidence,  and  to  avoid  the  least  attempt  to  insult  the  rela- 
tives of  the  accused,  realizing  that  they  have  all  the  sorrow  they 
can  bear  already,  and  **  burdens  too  heavy  for  mortals  to  bear." 
George  W.  Felts  has  the  sympathy  of  every  one  in  the 
prison.  Not  a  man  among  them  seems  to  believe  that  he  ought 
to  have  been  sent  there  and  they  do  the  best  they  can  for  him 
under  the  circumstances.  He  has  been  very  sick  at  times  and 
has  heart  trouble  and  rheumatism.  Also  he  had  quite  an  alarm- 
ing time  from  hemorrhage  of  the  lungs,  apparently,  during 
a  terrible  cough  that  had  been  \er\'  obstinate.  The  Chaplains 
are  also  in  sincere  sympathy  with  him.  They  realize  the  utter 
loneliness  of  a  deaf  man  in  prison.  Any  other  man  no  matter 
how  bad  he  is,  has  the  relief  of  the  Sunday  services.  But  no 
sound  of  prayer,  or  sermon,  or  music,  can  reach  him.  I  at- 
tended Chapel  exercises  once,  and  the  grand  old  hymns  that 
he  used  to  love  were  sung,  but  he  heard  not  a  word.     I  could 


68  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

not  go  again.  At  the  holiday  times,  addresses  and  entertain- 
ments are  permitted,  but  all  he  knows  is  the  gestures  and  the 
coming  and  going  of  the  people.  It  is  so  difficult  to  make  him 
hear  even  through  the  trumpet,  and  the  voice  must  be  so  loud, 
that  we  generally  write  everything  to  him.  This  is  the  un- 
fortunate deaf  old  soldier,  tenderhearted  as  a  child,  who  has 
been  shut  up  by  the  State's  attorney  through  falsehood,  and 
who  is  continually  slandered  by  him,  as  we  have  shown. 

I  hope  never  to  forget  that  the  condemned  and  abused 
found  a  friend  in  our  Savior,  that  he  loved  them  while  they 
were  yet  sinners.  I  have  had  a  glimpse  into  that  maelstrom  of 
extortion  and  injustice  called  "  Court  Practice  "  and  I  have 
been  more  bewildered  and  surprised,  by  the  injustice  and 
wickedness  going  on  under  cover  of  it,  than  by  anything  I  have 
seen  in  my  life,  and  I  have  been  associated  with  my  husband 
Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  in  Mission  and  other  work,  throughout 
the  United  States  for  more  than  twenty  years  among  all  grades 
of  people.  I  have  quite  a  collection  of  pictures  from  "  The 
Rogues  Gallery  "  none  of  them,  however  of  convicted  men. 
They  are  men  like  unto  those  to  whom  our  Savior  said,  "  My 
father's  house  is  the  house  of  prayer,  but  ye  have  made  it  a  den 
of  thieves."  He  took  a  whip  of  cords  and  whipped  them  out  of 
the  temple.     Who  will  follow  in  his  footsteps? 


of  George  W.  Felts  69 


CHAPTER  II. 
Habeas   Corpus    Proceedings. 

After  failing  to  secure  the  release  of  George  W.  Felts,  on 
a  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  in  the  United  States  Court  before 
Judge  Sanborn,  and  the  State  Court,  before  Judge  Honore,  and 
being  informed  by  both  of  these  judges,  that  the  proper  remedy 
was  a  Writ  of  Error,  instead  of  a  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  we 
were  very  much  puzzled  as  to  the  best  way  to  proceed.  It  was 
at  this  critical  period,  that  former  United  States  Senator  Will- 
iam E.  Mason  heard  of  the  case,  and  promptly  offered  his  ser- 
vices, free  of  charge,  to  the  deaf  old  soldier,  who  had  been 
taken  through  his  trial,  without  having  any  of  the  proceedings 
communicated  to  him  as  the  trial  progressed.  Like  all  the 
other  att<3rneys,  he  first  recommended  a  Writ  of  Error,  but 
when  he  learned  that  the  old  soldier  did  not  have  the  necessary 
money  to  pay  for  writing  up  the  record,  and  that  the  time  fo*- 
taking  out  the  Bill  of  Exceptions  had  expired,  he  determined 
to  go  ahead  with  the  Habeas  Corpus  proceedings,  and  if  \k>s- 
sible  secure  his  release  in  that  way.  He  brought  the  matter  up 
in  the  I'nited  States  Court,  before  Judge  Landis,  and  failing 
to  secure  the  prisoner's  release,  appealed  the  case  to  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States.  He  made  a  trip  to  Washing- 
ton, and  appeared  before  the  Supreme  Court,  and  upon  his 
request,  they  granted  a  special  hearing  for  the  case  to  be  heard 
a  few  weeks  later,  at  which  time  he  returned  to  Washington  and 
spent  a  few  weeks  of  his  valuable  time,  and  made  a  masterly 
effort,  both  in  his  brief,  and  in  his  oral  argument,  but  the  Su- 
preme Court,  held  the  same  view  as  the  other  courts  before 
which  the  case  had  been  argued,  that  it  was  better  practice  as 
they  called  it.  to  go  up  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  state  on  a 
Writ  of  Error,  in  a  case  of  this  kind.    The  friends  of  the  old 


ryO  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

soldiers  in  Cliicago,  donated  the  money  necessary  for  writing 
up  thie  record,  and  an  effort  was  then  made  to  go  up  to  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  state,  on  a  Writ  of  Error,  by  having  the 
Bill  of  Exceptions  signed  "  Nunc  pro  Tunc,"  as  explained  in 
another  chapter,  but  the  State's  attorney  promptly  refused  to 
consent,  and  so  this  deaf  old  soldier  was  not  allowed  to  go 
up  to  the  higher  court,  after  every  judge  had  assured  him  that  It 
was  the  proper  thing  to  do,  and  the  statute  of  the  state,  ghes 
him  five  years  in  which  to  appeal  his  case.    Senator  Mason  wrote 
numerous  letters  from  Chicago,  and  other  prominent  attorneys 
did  the  same  thing,  and  Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  visited  him  again 
and  again,  in  his  own  office,  but  the  State's  attorney  had  set 
his  foot  down  that  this  deaf  old  man  should  spend  the  rest  of 
his   life   in   the   prison,   and   he   knew   very  well,   that   if   he 
should   be   given   a   new   trial,   and   the   evidence    about  the 
condition  of  his  neck  when  he  entered  the  jail,  was  given  to 
the  jury,  they  would  surely  release  him,  and  then  what  would 
become  of  the  great  victory  that  he  won  in  sending  this  old 
soldier  to  the  prison,  who  was  taken  through  his  trial  without 
knowing  w^hat  the  witnesses  said  again  him?     Failing  to  get 
a  new  trial  we  undertook  to  get  a  pardon.     After  securing  a 
petition  of  about  six  thousand  names  in  Winnebago  County,  a 
large  majority  of  them  from  the  city  of  Rockford,  where  the 
trial  v^'as  held,  and  numerous  petitions  from  all  over  the  state, 
we  were  given  a  hearing  about  the  10th  of  last  December,  at 
which  time  W.  E.  Mason  appeared  before  the  board  of  pardons 
and   made   an   eloquent  appeal,   asking  that   the   old  man   be 
given  his  liberty.    The  case  is  now  before  the  board  of  pardons, 
and  they  are  considering  it,  and  after  they  have  passed  upon  it, 
it  will  then  go  to  the  Governor.     Form.er  Senator  Mason,  out 
of  the  kindness  of  his  heart,  knowing  that  the  old  man  is  poor, 
and  believing  that  he  is  not  guilty,  and  that  he  should  have 
known  all  the  proceedings  of  the  trial,  as  it  progressed,  has 
done  all  his  work,  without  money,  and  without  price,  and  with- 
out any  hope  of  future  reward. 

In  order  that  the  people  may  have  a  better  understand- 


of  George  W.  Felts  71 

ing-  of  our  contention,  in  the  Habeas  Corpus  proceedings,  we 
submit  the  following  extracts  from  the  record.  We  wish  to 
call  especial  attention  to  the  statement  of  facts,  and  Brief  for 
Relator,  by  Hon.  W.  E.  Mason.  In  this  the  reader  will  find 
the  description  of  the  method  established  for  the  trial  of  a  deaf 
person. 

1 X  THE  SUPREME  COURT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Petition  for  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus. 


Your  petitioner,  George  W.  Felts,  respectfully  represents 
that  he  is  detained  unlawfully  and  imprisoned  in  the  peni- 
tentiary of  the  State  of  Illinois  at  Joliet  by  E.  J.  Murphy, 
warden  of  said  penitentiary,  on  a  charge  of  murder  by  vir- 
tue of  a  certain  warrant  for  his  commitment,  a  copy  whereof 
IS  hereto  annexed,  which  detention  and  imprisonment  is  un- 
just and  contrary  to  law,  and  your  petitioner  alleges  that  he 
is  not  guilty  of  the  crime  laid  to  his  charge. 

Your  petitioner,  Cieorge  W.  I'clts,  further  shows  that  he, 
the  said  George  W.  Felts,  was  in  the  January  term,  FX35,  of 
the  Winnebago  County  Circuit  Court,  placed  on  trial  undei 
an  indictment  for  murder,  was  convicted  and  sentenced  to 
the  penitentiary  for  life,  without  having  any  chance  to  defend 
himself,  and  to  prove,  which  he  could  liavc  done,  that  he  was 
the  victim  of  a  hold-up,  near  midnight  of  a  dark  night,  when 
there  was  no  moon,  and  no  lights  in  the  streets  and  no  lights 
in  the  windows  where  he  was  passing. 

Your  petitioner,  the  said  George  W.  Felts,  now  between 
sixty  and  seventy  years  of  age,  has  always  been  a  lawabid 
ing.  peaceable  citizen,  and  never  had  any  trouble  with  the  man 
who  was  cut  that  night,  nor  did  he  know  who  it  w^as  that  came 
upon  him  and  grasped  him  by  the  neck  and  almost  broke  it 
as  he  ran  him  about  in  the  dark.  When  he  found  that  he 
could  not  get  loose  because  of  the  strength  of  the  man,  who 
was  very  strong  and  hurting  him  cruelly,  and  feeling  another 


72  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

man  come  up  to  his  back,  and  believing  it  to  be  a  serious  hold- 
up, he  tried  to  prick  the  man  with  his  small  pocket  knife  in  the 
leg  to  make  him  let  go,  but  just  as  he  reached  back,  this  man 
came  under  him  with  his  knee  from  the  back,  and  kicked  him 
from  him.  He,  the  said  George  W.  Felts,  declares  under  oath 
that  if  it  was  his  knife  that  wounded  the  man  it  was  done  in 
that  way,  at  that  time,  and  that  neither  then,  nor  at  any  other 
time,  did  he  intend  to  seriously  harm  his  assailant,  but  only  to 
warn  him  to  make  him  let  go,  and  that  he  did  not  know  at  the 
time  that  his  knife  touched  the  man,  and  since  reading  Dr. 
Haines'  description  of  the  wound,  as  to  the  size  and  depth,  he 
honestly  believes  that  the  blade  of  his  small  pocket  knife  could 
not  have  made  the  wound,  and  that  some  one  else  did  the  deed, 
possibly  to  help  him,  as  there  were  at  least  two  other  men,  in 
the  affair  who  would  be  as  likely  to  aid  him  as  to  help  hfs  as- 
sailant, as  they  knew  he  was  deaf  and  a  sufferer  from  rheu- 
matism, besides  being  an  old  man  he  was  not  half  as  strong  as 
the  man  who  had  him  by  the  neck. 

Your  petitioner  respectfully  presents  the  above  statement 
to  show  that  if  he  could  have  known  what  was  being  said  in 
the  trial,  he  could  have  brought  proof  corroborating  his  state- 
ment by  people  who  saw  the  marks  and  bruises  made  on  his 
neck  by  the  fingers  of  his  assailant,  one  of  whom  would  have 
testified  that  his  neck  was  lame  and  swollen  for  more  than  a 
week  afterward.     (We  now  have  a  dozen  witnesses.) 

Your  petitioner,  George  \V.  Felts,  further  represents  that 
he  found  out  too  late  to  be  of  service  that  this  evidence  as 
to  the  swollen  and  bruised  condition  of  his  peck  was  not  pre- 
sented in  the  trial. 

Your  petitioner  respectfully  shows  further  that  he  stated 
under  oath  on  the  witness  stand  that  he  had  not  heard  a 
word,  and  could  not  hear  a  word  of  all  that  had  been  said  dur- 
ing his  trial,  and  that  nothing  was  done  by  the  court,  before 
or  after  that  time,  to  provide  means  for  him  to  know  what 
was  said  or  done,  but  he  was  passed  through  the  whole  trial 
as  though  he  had  no  rights,  and  that  he  might  as  well  have 


of  George  W.  Felts  73 

been  outside  of  the  courthouse,  so  far  as  knowing  any  of  the 
details  of  the  trial  was  concerned. 

Your  petitioner,  George  W.  Felts,  further  shows  that 
while  he  knew  that  he  was  treated  with  monstrous  injustice 
during  the  trial,  he  did  not  know  till  afterwards  that  his  legal 
and  constitutional  rights  were  being  denied  to  him,  and  that 
he  had  a  right,  established  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  and  confirmed  by  decisions  from  the  high- 
est court  of  the  United  States,  under  the  common  law,  to  know 
all  the  proceedings  of  the  court,  while  the  trial  was  in  progress, 
and  to  have  the  testimony  of  witnesses,  and  all  the  details 
of  the  trial  written  out  for  him,  or  printed  for  his  use,  that 
he  might  understand  and  be  able  to  properly  defend  himself 
personally,  and  by  his  attorney.  It  seemed  at  the  time  a  terrible 
thing  to  him,  that  having  lost  his  hearing  in  the  service  of  his 
country,  that  that  country  had  made  no  provision  to  secure  to 
him.  a  deaf  man,  his  rights  in  its  courts.  He  now  knows  that 
his  constitutional  and  legal  rights  were  withheld,  in  that  he  did 
not  have  communicated  to  him  by  writing  or  j^rinting,  or  by 
the  use  of  his  ear  tube,  the  ])nKec(lings  of  the  court  that  tried 
him. 

Your  petitioner  represents  that  he  did  not  waive  his  con- 
stitutional right  to  know  the  evidence  against  him,  and  he  is 
advised  that  he  could  not  waive  such  right. 

Your  petitioner,  George  \V.  Felts,  further  represents  that 
he  is  a  veteran  of  the  Civil  war.  who  lost  his  hearing  in  lino 
of  duty  as  a  soldier,  and  because  of  this  deafness  this  trouble 
came  upon  him.  The  village  marshal  testified  in  a  written 
statement,  verified  in  the  trial  court,  that  he  heard  laughing 
and  talking  during  the  time  of  the  assault,  and  had  he,  your 
petitioner,  heard  this  laughter  and  talking,  he  would  have 
known  the  voice  of  his  assailant,  and  would  have  known  that 
the  seeming  hold-up  was  meant  to  be  the  rough  fun  of  a  man 
who  had  been  drinking.  He,  your  petitioner,  being  so  deaf 
that  he  can  only  hear  when  a  person  speaks  into  the  mouth- 
piece of  the  ear  trumpet  close  to  him,  heard    no    sound    of 


74  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

laughter,  and  not  a  word  spoken,  and  the  rough  treatment  made 
him  beheve  that  he  was  in  serious  danger  from  the  three  men. 
especially  the  one  who  had  him  grasped  by  the  neck,  which 
was  a  reasonable  belief,  as  in  the  midnight  darkness,  he  did 
not  know  who  any  of  them  were. 

He,  your  petitioner,  George  W.  Felts,  further  represents 
that  while  he  can  not  always  hear  through  the  eartube,  he  can 
read  both  waiting  and  printing,  and  it  was  possible,  there- 
fore, to  interpret  to  him  all  the  details  of  the  trial  in  that  way, 
and  he,  your  petitioner,  George  W.  Felts,  further  represents 
under  oath  that  no  one  was  appointed  by  the  court  to  convey 
to  him  any  of  the  proceedings,  nor  did  any  one  volunteer  to 
do  this,  while  it  was  known  to  all,  as  the  affidavits  attached 
to  this  petition  witness,  that  he  could  not  and  did  not  hear 
or  know  any  of  the  proceedings  of  the  trial. 

Your  petitioner  further  represents  unto  your  Honors  that 
although  he  had  with  him  an  ear  trumpet  during  the  procures-- 
of  his  trial,  yet  he  states  under  oath,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that 
he  did  not  hear  one  single  word  of  the  examination  of  the 
jurors  either  by  the  State's  attorney  or  by  his  own  counsel ; 
that  he  did  not  hear  the  names  of  the  jurors  nor  tlieir  business 
so  that  he  could  advise  intelligently  with  his  counsel  as  to  the 
advisability  of  the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  jurors,  and 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  was  not  consulted  and  did  not  know 
the  facts  elicited  by  the  examination  of  the  jurors  be  fore,  ac- 
ceptance, and  he  states  to  your  Honors  that   from   facts  he 
has  gathered  by  reading  the  newspapers  since  his  trial   that 
he  would  have  objected  to  certain  jurors  if  he  had  known  theii 
names  and  their  relationship  with  other  people,  and  would  have 
helped  his  attorney,  during  examination,  touching  their  quali- 
fications as  jurors;  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  such  examina-        i 
tion  was  never  written  out  so  far  as  this  petitioner  is  informed.        I 
and  believes,   and  no  word  of  the   examination   was   spoken        '" 
to  him  through  his   speaking  tube   or  communicated  to  him 
in  any  way  before  the  acceptance  of  the  jury.  | 

Your  petitioner  further  represents  that  he  did  not  hear, 


of  George  W.  Felts  75 

nor  have  communicated  to  him  in  any  way,  the  evidence  of 
the  witnesses  on  the  trial  of  his  case,  and  that  he  was  unable 
to  suggest  to  his  counsel  any  questions  for  cross-examination 
during  the  trial,  and  that  the  substance  of  their  evidence  was 
not  communicated  to  him,  until  he  saw  some  partial  reports 
of  it  in  the  newspapers,  when  it  was  too  late  to  suggest  to  hi^ 
counsel  proper  cross-questions,  and  your  petitioner  further 
states  that  the  first  thing  communicated  to  him  after  the  begin- 
ning of  the  trial,  which  lasted  about  two  weeks,  was  the  ver- 
dict; that  he  was  in  the  court  room  with  his  ear  trumpet  but 
was  unable  to  hear  the  verdict,  and  did  not  know  what  the 
verdict  was  until  the  clerk  of  the  court  wrote  it  upon  a  piece 
of  paper  and  gave  it  to  your  petitioner. 

Your  petitioner  further  represents  that  he  was  present  in 
the  court  during  the  motion  for  a  new  trial,  but  did  not  hear 
a  word  that  was  said  by  either  counsel,  and  the  only  thing 
communicated  to  him  was  when  he  was  called  to  the  bar  to 
be  sentenced,  and  then  your  petitioner  noticed  that  the  court 
was  talking  to  the  sheriff,  and  the  shcritf  came  then  to  your 
petitioner  and  putting  his  mouth  in  close  communication  with 
your  petitioner's  ear  trumpet,  explained  to  your  petitioner  that 
his  motion  for  a  new  trial  had  been  overruled,  and  that  he  had 
been  sentenced  for  life,  as  shown  by  copy  of  court  proceed- 
ings hereto  attached. 

Your  petitioner  further  represents  that  he  did  not  waive 
his  right  to  a  speedy  trial,  but  was  anxious  to  be  tried  while 
die  condition  of  his  neck  would  prove  that  he  had  been  as- 
saulted, but  for  the  convenience  of  others  his  trial  was  post- 
poned, at  which  time  he  supposed  that  witnesses  would  tes- 
tify to  the  marks  and  bruises  upon  his  neck,  showing  that,  what 
he  had  done,  if  he  had  done  anything,  that  he  had  only  acted 
in  .cell -defense  without  any  idea  of  seriously  harming  any  one. 
To  his  prejudice,  loss  and  personal  injury,  he  was  held  in  jail 
for  six  months  with  no  opportunity  to  let  the  people  know  his 
side  of  the  case,  and  as  before  stated,  being  unable  to  hear  any- 
thing that  passed  during  the  trial,  did  not  know  until  it  was 


76  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

too  late,  that  the  important  evidence  concerning  the  marks  and 
bruises  on  his  neck,  corroborating  his  statement  concerning 
the  affair,  had  not  been  presented. 

Your  petitioner  further  represents  that  he  never  had  a 
copy  of  the  indictment,  nor  the  names  of  the  witnesses,  nor 
anything  that  would  enable  him  to  aid  his  attorney  in  his  de- 
fense, nor  had  he  any  opportunity  from  the  hour  he  was  ar- 
rested to  the  rendering  of  the  verdict  to  hear  or  to  know  the 
proceedings  during  his  trial. 

Your  petitioner  believes  that  he  would  have  been  acquitted, 
had  he  been  able  to  know,  that  he  might  properly  aid  in  his 
defense,  in  the  examination  and  cross-examination  of  the  wit- 
nesses, and  he  further  represents  that  he  never  willingly  waived 
any  right  to  a  legal  and  constitutional  trial,  and  that  he  is  ad- 
vised that  he  could  not  have  waived  such  right  had  he  wished 
to  do  so. 

Your  petitioner  further  represents  to  your  Honors  that 
it  is  his  belief  that  had  he  been  permitted  to  be  present  at  the 
coroner's  inquest  and  show  the  marks  upon  his  neck  of  the 
finger  prints  and  bruises  made  by  his  assailant,  that  he  would 
never  have  been  indicted,  and  that  everyone  would  have  be- 
lieved his  story,  that  he  was  the  victim  of  an  assault,  and  had 
only  acted  in  self-defense,  without  any  intention  of  seriously 
harming  any  one. 

Your  petitioner  further  represents  that  the  bruises  and 
finger  prints  were  still  to  be  seen  upon  his  neck,  and  it  was  . 
still  lame  and  swollen  at  the  preliminary  trial,  and  your  peti- 
tioner did  not  waive  his  right  to  be  examined  on  that  occasion 
nor  authorize  his  attorney  to  waive  any  of  his  rights  then  or 
at  any  time  thereafter,  but  being  unacquainted  with  the  rules 
in  trying  cases,  and  not  being  able  to  hear  any  of  the  proceed- 
ings, left  the  whole  matter  in  his  counsel's  hands,  who  of  his 
own  motion  decided  not  to  offer  any  defense  in  the  preliminary 
trial. 

Your  petitioner  also  represents  that  at  the  preliminary 
trial,  though  he  was  within  about  ten    (10)   feet  of  the  wit- 


of  George  W.  Felts  77 

nesses,  that  he  could  not  hear  a  word,  and  that  no  word  of 
all  that  was  said  was  communicated  to  him  during  said  trial. 

Now,  therefore,  your  petitioner,  the  said  George  W.  Felts, 
represents  that  he  was  not  tried  by  due  process  of  law  and 
that  his  rights,  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
of  America  and  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  to 
have  a  trial  by  due  process  of  law  and  to  be  confronted  with 
the  witnesses  brought  in  to  testify  agamst  him,  by  the  people, 
was  absolutely  denied  him,  the  said  George  W.  Felts,  and  that 
by  reason  of  his  condition  in  Hfe,  suffering  the  infirmity  of 
deafness,  his  trial  was  without  any  authority  of  law  and  that 
the  judgment  of  the  court  is  absolutely  null  and  void, 
for  the  reason  that  when  the  court  failed  to  have  written  for 
him  to  read  the  evidence  of  the  witne.>ses  and  failed  to  have 
communicated  to  him  the  proceedings,  while  the  trial  was  in 
progress  by  writing  or  printing  or  in  any  way  informing  him 
of  the  details  of  the  trial,  and  failed  to  have  communicated  to 
him  the  answers  of  the  jurors  and  other  proceedings  when  they 
were  being  examined  and  selected  to  try  him,  denying  to  him 
the  right  to  challenge  and  to  aid  in  selecting  said  jurymen  and 
leaving  him  in  total  ignorance  of  all  that  was  said  or  done; 
that  the  court,  therefore,  and  thereby,  lost  jurisdiction  of  the 
person  of  your  petitioner,  the  said  Geoige  W.  Felts. 

Your  petitioner,  George  \V.  Felts,  annexes  hereto  a  cer- 
tified copy  of  the  proceedings  of  said  trial  just  preceding  the 
])assing  of  sentence  wherein  it  is  shown  that  the  trial  judge 
knew  that  the  said  George  W.  Felts  did  not  hear  and  could 
not  hear  any  of  the  proceedings,  and  that  the  said  trial  judge 
sentenced  the  said  George  W.  Felts  without  having  given 
him  a  trial  by  due  process  of  law  as  guaranteed  to  him  by  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Statement  of  the  court  in  the  trial  of  the  case  in  the  Cir- 
cuit Court  of  Winnebago  county,  State  of  Illinois. 

The  Court:    (Judge  Frost). 

It  is  regretted  in  one  sense  that  the  defendant  on  account 
of  his  infirmity  is  unable  to  know  clearly  what  has  been  done. 


78  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

The  Court:  Well,  under  the  circumstances  of  course  it 
is  practically  impossible  for  me  to  say  anything  to  this  de- 
fendant. 

(Here  follows  the  sentence  of  the  court),  which  sentence 
was  transmitted  to  the  defendant  by  the  sheriff  through  a 
tube. 

I,  Thomas  J.  Scone,  do  hereby  certify  that  as  the  official  re- 
porter I  took  the  testimony  in  the  case  of  the  People  vs  Felts, 
tried  before  his  Honor,  A.  H.  Frost,  Judge  of  the  Seventeenth 
Judicial  Circuit,  and  that  the  foregoing  is  a  transcript  of  a  part 
of  said  proceedings,  so  taken  by  me. 

(Signed)  Tiios.  J.  Scone. 


State  of  Illinois.     ) 

L  ss 
Winnebago  County,  ( 

Thomas  J.  Scone,  first  being  duly  sworn  .  on  oath  de- 
poses and  says  that  he  was  present  during  the  trial  of  the  case 
of  the  People  of  the  State  of  Illinois  vs.  George  W.  Pelts,  and 
that  at  no  time  during  the  said  trial  was  the  testimony  of  any 
witness  read  to  the  said  George  W.  Felts,  nor  was  the  testimony 
of  the  witnesses,  who  testified  in  said  case  written  up  by  me  as 
the  official  stenographer  or  reporter  of  said  court  and  read 
over  to  the  said  George  W.  Felts  at  any  time  prior  to  the  pass- 
ing of  sentence  by  the  court. 

The  testimony  of  all  the  witnesses  was  taken  down  by  me 
as  the  official  stenographer  of  said  court. 

(Signed)  Thos.  J.  Scone. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  the  eighth  day  of 
March,  1905. 

(Signed)  Willlmvi  G.  Anderson. 
Notary  Public  in  and  for  Cook  County,  Illinois. 

Your  petitioner  also  annexes  hereto  extracts  from  affi- 
davits, showing  his  utter  inability  to  hear  the  proceeding": 
wherein  he  was  convicted  and  sentenced. 


of  George  W.  Felts  79 

County  of  Winnebago,  / 

ss 
State  of  Illinois,       ( 

I,  Florence  F.  Sarver,  of  the  County  of  Winnebago  and 
the  State  of  Illinois,  first  being  duly  sworn,  on  oath  testify: 
That  I  was  present  during  the  trial  of  George  W.  Felts,  held 
at  the  courthouse,  in  the  City  of  Rockford,  in  the  Circuit  Court 
in  the  January  term,  A.  D.  1905.  I  sat  near  the  accused, 
throughout  the  trial,  and  I  testify  that  no  one  was  appointed 
to  communicate  to  him  in  any  way  the  proceedings  of  the 
court,  during  the  trial.  Also  that  no  one  volunteered  to  repeat 
to  him  through  his  eartube  or  to  write  or  print  for  him  to 
read,  anything  that  was  said  by  jury  or  judge  or  lawyer  or  any 
witness,  and  it  was  generally  known  and  admitted  that  he, 
being  deaf,  was  compelled  to  be  tried  without  knowing  what 
was  said  against  him,  or  any  of  the  proceedings  during  the 
progress  of  the  trial. 

I  also  testify  that  he  can  read  writing  and  printing,  and 
that  he  can  hear  imperfectly,  through  an  eartube,  when  the 
person  speaking  is  close  to  him,  speaking  into  the  mouthpiece 
of  the  tube.  This,  however,  was  neglected,  as  his  attorney  was 
otherwise  occupied,  and  no  one  was  appointed  to  do  it. 

Florence   F.   Sarver. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  21st  day  of  Oct- 
tober,  1905. 

[seal.]  Jesse  F.  Harris, 

Notary  Public. 


State  of  Illinois,     ) 

L  ss 
Winnebago  County,  j 

Edwin  R.  Rowley,  of  the  City  of  Rockford,  County  of 
Winnebago,  and  State  of  Illinois,  being  first  duly  sworn,  on 
oath  says  that  he  was  present  during  the  trial  of  George  W. 
Felts,  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  said  Winnebago  county,  held  at 
the  court  house  in  the  City  of  Rockford,  Illinois,  at  the  Jan- 
uary term,  A.  D.  1905 ;  that  he  was  present  during  the  greater 


80  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

part  of  said  trial,  being  present  all  the  time  excepting  about 
half  an  hour  of  one  morning;  that  said  George  W.  Felts  was 
very  hard  of  hearing,  being  unable  to  hear  anything  except  when 
spoken  to  directly  through  an  ear  trnr.^pet  or  tube  placed 
close  to  the  mouth  of  the  one  speaking;  that  said  George  W. 
Felts  was  not  able  to  hear  any  of  the  testimony  presented 
agamst  him  at  said  trial,  nor  the  pleas  made  by  the  attorneys, 
nor  any  of  the  proceedings  of  said  trial ;  that  no  provision  was 
made  to  inform  the  said  George  W.  Felts  at  the  time  testimony 
was  presented  and  arguments  made  what  was  said  or  done 
during  said  trial ;  that  no  effort  was  made  by  any  one  to  con- 
vey to  the  said  George  W.  Felts  any  of  the  details  of  the  said 
trial  as  it  proceeded,  by  mechanical  means,  such  as  writing  or 
printing  or  the  use  of  an  eartube;  that  he,  this  affiant,  heard 
the  argument  of  the  State's  attorney  before  the  jury  at  said 
trial  and  he  is  satisfied  that  said  State's  attorney,  by  going 
outside  of  the  evidence  at  times,  and  contradicting  the  evidence 
at  other  times,  in  his  statements  before  the  jury,  succeeded 
in  misleading  said  jury,  thereby  putting  the  said  George  W. 
Felts  in  Joliet  prison  for  life,  thus  unjustly  taking  advantage 
of  a  deaf  and  helpless  old  man. 

Edwin  R.  Rowley. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  11th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1905. 
.  [seal.]  Lewis  F.  Lake, 

Clerk  Circuit  Court. 


State  of  Illinois,     ) 

I  ss. 
Wixnebago  County,  j 

I,  George  A.  Preston,  of  Rockford,  County  of  Winne- 
bago, and  State  of  Illinois,  being  first  duly  sworn,  on  oath 
testify  that  I  was  present  a  portion  of  two  days  at  the  trial  of 
George  W.  Felts,  in  the  January  term  of  the  Circuit  Court,  A. 
D.  1905.  in  the  court  house  in  Rockford,  in  the  said  county 
and  state. 


of  George  W.  Felts  81 

I  testify,  under  oath,  that  it  was  known  to  me  and  gen- 
erally known,  that  the  said  George  W.  Felts  is  a  deaf  man, 
who  can  only  hear  when  the  speaker  is  close  to  him  and  speak- 
ing with  the  mouth  at  the  end  or  in  the  mouthpiece  of  the  tube. 
I  testify  that  no  one  attemj^ted  to  speak  to  him  through  the  tube, 
or  to  convey  to  him  in  any  way  such  a?  by  writing  or  print- 
ing, any  word  that  was  said  in  the  trial  court,  while  I  was 
present,  so  that  he  might  as  well  have  been  outside  of  the 
court  house,  so  far  as  being  able  to  know  the  proceedings  wai 
concerned. 

I  also  testily  that  1  was  present  a  portion  of  the  time  when 
the  jury  was  being  chosen,  and  no  attention  was  paid  to  him, 
and  nothing  conveyed  to  him  in  any  way  as  to  the  tpiestions 
propounded  to  the  jury  or  the  answers  given  by  any  one  of 
them.  I  particularly  noticed  this  neglect,  and  that-  he  wa.*; 
ignored  as  completely  in  the  selection  of  the  jury  and  in  all 
the  other  proceedings  of  the  trial  while  I  was  present  as  any 
mere  spectator  in  the  court  room. 

George  A.  Treston. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  14th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1905. 

[seal.]  Lewis  F.  Lake, 

Clerk  Circuit  Court. 


State  of  Illinois,     / 

.  ss 
Winnebago  County,  ) 

I,  Blanche  E.  Elaker,  of  the  City  of  Rockford,  County  of 
Winnebago,  and  State  of  Illinois,  being  first  duly  sworn,  on 
oath  testify  that  I  was  present  during  five  sessions  of  the  Cir- 
cuit Court  of  said  county  and  state,  held  at  the  courthouse  in 
the  City  of  Rockford,  Illinois,  in  the  January  term,  A.  D.  1905, 
while  the  trial  of  George  W.  I-'elts  was  in  progress.  I  tes- 
tify that  I  knew  the  prisoner  George  W.  Felts  to  be  a  deaf 
man,  who  can  oidy  hear  through  an  eartube  when  the  per- 
son speaking  is  close  to  him,  speaking  directly  through  the 
tube.    I  sat  behind  him,  in  the  next  row  of  seats,  and  I  noticed 


g2  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

particularly  that  no  one  attempted  to  convey  to  him  any  of  the 
testimony,  or  any  other  proceeding  of  the  trial,  during  the 
sessions  of  the  court,  when  I  was  present,  either  by  speaking 
to  him  through  the  tube  or  by  writing  or  printing  for  him  to 
read,  any  of  the  testimony  or  other  proceedings  of  the  court. 
I  also  testify  that  it  was  generally  known,  and  often  com- 
mented upon  in  the  daily  papers  and  by  the  people  who  at- 
tended the  trial,  that  he  was  unconscious  of  what  was  spoken 
by  any  one  during  the  proceedings. 

Blanche  Eaker. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  13th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1905. 

[seal.]  Lewis  F.  Lake, 

Clerk  Circuit  Court. 


State  of  Illinois, 
Winnebago  County, 


i\ 


Daniel  C.  Richards,  a  resident  of  the  City  of  Rockford, 
county  and  state  above  named,  who  being  duly  sworn,  depo- 
seth  and  says  he  has  known  George  W.  Felts  since  he  was 
a  boy ;  that  for  a  number  of  years  said  George  W.  Felts  has 
been  very  hard  of  hearing  (or  deaf)  ;  that  it  was  hard  to  com- 
municate with  him  even  with  the  aid  of  a  speaking  tube  or 
ear  trumpet.  Said  affiant  further  says  that  he  was  in  attend- 
ance at  the  trial  of  said  Felts  at  the  court  house  in  the  above 
named  city  and  state  in  the  Circuit  Court  at  the  January  term, 
A.  D.  1905,  a  considerable  portion  of  the  time  when  said  trial 
was  in  progress ;  that  said  Felts  did  not  have  a  fair  trial  for 
the  reason  there  was  no  effort  by  the  court,  the  attorneys  con- 
ducting the  trial,  or  other  persons,  to  communicate  to  said 
George  W.  Felts  by  the  use  of  the  eartube,  by  writing  or  other 
rational  means,  the  purport  of  the  testimony,  either  for  or 
against  him,  during  the  time  it  was  being  given  ;  that  said 
Felts  sat  unconscious  of  what  the  evidence  was  throughout 
the  various  sessions  of  the  court  during  the  trial. 


of  George  W.  Felts  83 

Said  affiant  further  states  that  as  a  boy  and  man,  until 
crippled  with  rheumatism,  said  George  W.  Felts  was  consid- 
ered an  industrious  boy  and  man.  The  holding  an  honorable 
discharge  and  allowance  of  pension  by  the  government  should 
offset  the  assertion  of  the  State's  attorney  that  he  was  a  shirk 
as  a  soldier, 

Dan'l  C.  Richards. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  13th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1905. 

[seal.]  Lewis  F.  Lake, 

Clerk  Circuit  Court. 


State  of  Illinois,  ) 

V  SS. 

Winnebago  County,  \ 

I,  Henry  R.  Howe,  of  the  City  of  Rockford,  County  of  Win- 
nebago, and  State  of  Illinois,  being  first  duly  sworn,  on  oath 
testify  that  I  was  present  at  different  times  during  the  trial 
of  George  W.  Felts,  in  the  Circuit  Court  held  in  Rockford, 
Illinois,  in  the  January  term,  A.  H.  1^5. 

I  testify  that  I  have  known  the  said  George  W.  I'elts  per- 
sonally since  1862,  and  I  have  always  known  him  to  be  pos- 
sessed of  those  noble  impulses  and  qualities  of  heart  and  mind 
that  go  to  make  up  a  true  and  loyal  man.  He  has  been  par- 
tially deaf  since  his  exposure  and  suffering  as  a  soldier  in  the 
war  for  the  Union,  and  for  quite  a  number  of  years,  in  order 
to  converse  with  him  at  all  it  is  necessary  to  be  close  to  him 
and  speak  carefully  and  distinctly  through  the  ear  tube.  He 
continually  wears  this  tube  suspended  from  his  neck  for  that 
purpose.  I  testify,  under  oath,  that  at  no  time  during  my 
presence  in  the  court  room,  while  the  witnesses  for  the  prose- 
cution and  the  defense  were  being  e.xamined,  was  the  said 
George  W.  Felts  commuiycated  with  in  any  manner,  by  the  ear 
lube,  or  printing,  or  writing,  so  that  he  could  know  anything 
that  was  said  by  any  of  the  witnesses,  nor  were  any  of  the 


84  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

proceedings  of  the  trial  conveyed  to  him  at  any  time  when  I 
was  present  by  any  one. 

It  was  a  pitiable  sight  to  see  this  old,  broken-down  vet- 
eran soldier  the  central  object  of  idle  curiosity,  being  tried  for 
his  life  that  he  once  so  freely  offered  to  save  his  country,  with- 
out being  made  to  understand  the  nature  and  extent  of  the 
accusations  being  made  against  him  at  the  time. 

H.  R.  Howe. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  14th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1905. 

[seal.]  Lewis  F.  Lake, 

Clerk  Circuit  Court. 


State  of  Illinois,  ) 

L  SS. 

Winnebago  County,  j 

I,  J.  F.  Eaker,  of  the  City  of  Woodstock,  State  of  Illinois, 
first  being  duly  sworn,  on  oath  testify  that  I  was  present  dur- 
ing the  trial  of  George  W.  Felts,  held  in  the  court  house,  in 
the  City  of  Rockford,  in  the  above  mentioned  county  and 
state,  in  the  Circuit  Court,  January,  1905,  A.  D. 

I  testify  that  I  sat  by  his  side  nearly  every  session  of  the 
court  during  his  trial,  and  I  know  that  no  one  repeated  to 
him  any  of  the  proceedings  of  the  trial  either  the  testimony 
or  anything  else  while  the  trial  was  in  progress. 

I  testify  that  no  one  talked  through  his  tube,  or  wrote 
out  for  him,  or  printed  for  him,  any  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
court  while  I  was  present.  I  was  also  present  and  heard  the 
state's  attorney  when  he  falsly  attacked  the  character,  and  the 
soldier  record  of  George  W.  Felts. 

This  was  a  cruel  and  grievous  thing  for  him  to  do,  when 
this  poor  old  patriot  had  lost  his  hearing,  from  exposure 
and  sickness  in  the  service  of  his  country,  and  when,  as  I  be- 
lieve, and  he  testifies,  that  his  deafness  was  the  principal  rea- 
son for  his  fright,  in  being,  as  he  thought,  the  victim  of  a  hold- 
up, in  the  midnight  hour  of  a  dark  night.     I  believe  he  is  suf- 


of  George  W.  Felts  85 

fering  a   most   unjust   unprixtiiinent   for  being  compelled,   as 
he  thought,  to  act  in  self-defense. 

J.  F.  Eaker. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  nn   this  2d  day  of  Octo- 
ber, A.  D.  1905. 

[sEvVL.]  Theo.  Hamer, 

Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court  in  the  County  of  McHenry  and 
State  of  Illinois. 


State  of  Illinois,   , 

'  ss. 


;! 


\V I  N  N  EBAGO  COU  NTY 

1,  Will  Kenyon,  of  the  City  of  Rockford,  County  of  Win- 
nebago, State  of  lUinois,  first  being  duly  sworn,  on  oath  tes- 
tify that  I  was  present  throughout  the  trial  of  George  W.  Felts, 
held  in  the  court  house  in  the  City  of  Rockford,  Illinois,  in 
the  January  term  of  the  Circuit  Court,  A.  D.  1905.  I  testify 
that  it  was  known  to  nie  and  known  to  the  trial  court,  and  ad- 
mitted l>oth  by  the  attorneys  and  tlie  witnesses  on  both  sides, 
that  he  went  tlirough  the  trial  unable  t<»  hear  any  of  tlie  pro- 
ceedings. 

1  testify  under  oath  that  1  sat  in  about  six  feet  of  the 
prisoner  during  the  trial,  and  seldom  farther  away,  and  as 
I  had  to  look  past  him  to  observe  the  jury  when  they  were 
being  chosen,  and  the  witnesses  when  they  >vere  testifying,  I 
know  that  no  one  comnumicated  to  him  any  of  the  proceed- 
ings, as  the  trial  progressed,  and  it  was  generally  conceded 
that  he  knew  no  more  of  whaf  was  said  for  or  against  him  dur- 
ing the  trial,  than  he  would  had  he  been  miles  ayvay. 

Will  Kenyon. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  27th  day  of  Sep- 
tember. 1905. 

[seal.]  Leila  I.  Sweet, 

Notary  Public. 


86  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

State  of  Illinois,  ) 
Winnebago  County,  ^ 

I,  Dorothy  Kenyon,  of  the  City  of  Rockford,  County  of 
Winnebago,  and  State  of  Illinois,  being  first  duly  sworn,  on 
oath  testify  that  I  was  present  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
trial  of  George  W.  Felts,  held  in  the  court  house,  in  the  said 
city,  county  and  state,  in  the  January  term  of  the  Circuit  Court, 
A.  D.  1905. 

I  testify  under  oath,  that  I  knew,  and  believe  it  was  gen- 
erally known,  that  the  said  George  ^^^  Felts  is  only  able  to 
hear,  when  the  speaker  is  close  to  him,  and  speaks  with  the 
mouth  at  the  mouthpiece  of  the  ear  tube.  That  it  was  known 
to  all  present,  was  manifest,  when  the  jury  was  being  chosen, 
as  no  one  noticed  him  any  more  than  though  he  had  been 
a  disinterested  stranger.  The  questions  and  the  answers  were 
none  of  them  repeated  to  him,  and  from  that  time,  no  one  used 
his  ear  tube  to  communicate  with  him,  anything  that  any  wit- 
ness said  or  by  writing  or  printing  informed  him  of  any  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  court  while  the  trial  was  in  progress. 
His  attorney  in  defending  him  stated  that  he  had  heard  no 
word  that  was  said,  and  the  prosecuting  attorney  also  referred 
to  the  fact  of  his  deafness,  as  did  the  various  witnesses.  In  fact 
the  sad  truth  was  known  to  all  that  he  was  passed  through  his 
trial,  unconscious  of  what  was  said  or  done  either  for  or 
against  him. 

Mrs.  Dorothy  Kenyon. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  27th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1905. 

[seal.]  Leila  I.  Sweet, 

Notary  Public . 


^tate  of  Illinois,  ) 

>  ss 
Winnebago  County,   ( 

I,  Ruth  Baldwin  of  the  City  of  Rockford,  County  of  Win- 
nebago,   and    State   of    Illinois,    first   being   duly    sworn,    on 


of  George  W.  Felts  87 

oath  testify  that  I  was  present  during  the  trial  of  George  W. 
Felts,  held  in  the  court  house,  in  the  said  state,  county  and 
city,  in  the  January  term  of  the  Circuit  Court,  A.  D.  1905. 

I  testify  that  I  knew  the  prisoner,  said  George  W.  Felts, 
to  be  a  deaf  man,  who  can  hear  only  when  spoken  to  through 
an  ear  tube,  and  that  it  was  known  to  all  present,  was  mani- 
fest when  the  jury  was  being  chosen,  as  no  one  noticed  him 
any  more  than  though  he  had  been  a  disinterested  stranger, 
The  questions  and  tlie  answers  were  none  of  them  repeated 
to  him,  and  from  time  lo  time  no  one  used  his  tube  to  com- 
municate to  him  anything  that  any  witness  said,  or  by  writing 
or  printing  inform  him  of  any  of  the  proceedings  of  the  court 
while  the  trial  was  in  progress.  His  attorney  in  defendinj^ 
him  stated  that  he  heard  no  word  that  was  said,  and  the  prose- 
cuting attorney  also  referred  to  the  fact  of  his  deafness,  as 
did  the  various  witnesses,  and  the  sad  fact  was  known  to  all 
that  he  was  passed  through  his  trial  unconscious  of  what  wa.** 
said  or  done,  either  for  or  against  him. 

Mrs.  Ruth  Baldwin. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  27th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1905. 

[seal.]  Leila  I.  Sweet, 

Notary  Public. 


State  of  Illinois,    ) 

\  ss 
Winnebago  County,  i 

I,  Ernest  Baldwin,  of  the  City  of  Rockford,  County  of 
Winnebago,  State  of  Illinois,  being  first  duly  sworn,  on  oath 
testify,  that  I  was  present  during  one  day,  or  two  sessions, 
of  the  Circuit  Coiirt  of  said  county  and  state,  held  at  the 
court  house,  in  the  City  of  Rockford,  Illinois,  in  the  lanuary 
term,  A.  D.  1905. 

I  testify  that  1  knew  the  prisoner  to  be  a  deaf  man,  and 
it  was  generally  known  that  he  could  only  hear  through  the 
eartube  that  for  years  he  ha<  carried  around  his  neck  for  that 


88  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

purpose.  I  testify  that  while  I  was  present,  through  one  day, 
or  the  forenoon  and  the  afternoon  sessions  of  the  court,  that 
no  one  attempted  to  communicate  with  him  either  through 
the  tube  or  by  writing  or  by  printing,  or  any  other  way,  the 
proceedings  of  the  court.  It  seemed  to  many  of  us  monstrous 
injustice  at  the  time,  that  this  deaf  old  soldier,  or  any  one  else, 
so  yfflicted,  should  be  tried  for  his  life,  not  being  able  to  know 
what  was  said  against  him,  and  having  no  chance  to  defend 
himself. 

Ernest  V.  Baldwin. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  27th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1905. 

[.SEAL.]  Leila  I.  Sweet, 

Notary  Public. 


State  of  Illinois,    ) 

>  ss 
Winnebago  County.  ( 

I,  Myron  Franklin,  of  the  City  of  Rockford,  County  of 
Winnebago,  State  of  Illinois,  being  first  duly  sworn,  on  oath 
testify,  that  I  was  present,  part  of  the  time,  during  the  trial 
of  George  W.  Felts,  held  at  the  court  house  in  the  City  of 
Rockford,  Illinois,  in  the  January  term  of  the  Circuit  Court, 
A.  D.  1905. 

I  testify  that  I  knew  the  prisoner,  George  W.  Felts,  to 
be  a  deaf  man,  who  can  only  hear,  when  spoken  to  through 
an  eartube,  when  the  person  speaking  is  close  to  him,  speak- 
ing in  the  mouthpiece  of  the  tube.  I  was  present  one  day  dur- 
ing his  trial  when  the  witnesses  were  testifying,  and  I  was 
present  at  other  times. 

I  testify  under  oath,  that  no  one  attempted  to  speak  to 
him  through  his  eartube,  nor  to  communicate  to  him  by  writ- 
ing or  printing  an>'thing  that  the  witnesses  said,  nor  to  make 
him  acquainted,  in  any  manner,  with  any  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  trial  while  I  was  present. 

Myron  Franklin. 


of  George  W.  Felts  89 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  nie  this  27th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1905. 

[SE.\L.]  Lewis  F.  Lake, 

Clerk  Circuit  Court. 


State  of  Illinois,    > 

>  ss. 
Winnebago  Countv.  ( 

I,  Jtilia  A.  Potter,  of  the  City  of  Rockford,  County  of 
Winnebago,  and  State  of  Illinois,  first  being  duly  sworn,  on 
oath  testify,  that  I  was  present  during  four  sessions  of  tlie 
Circuit  Court  at  the  trial  of  George  W.  Felts,  held  in  the 
court  house,  in  the  City  of  Ivr  ..kfMr.V  ^^f.if.-  ..f  Illiii.ii>  in  the 
January  term,  1905,  A.  D. 

1  testify  that  I  knew  the  prisoner,  George  W.  Felts,  to 
be  a  deaf  man,  who  can  only  hear  when  spoken  to  through 
an  eartube,  with  the  person  cl6sc  to  him  speaking  through 
the  mouthpiece  of  the  eartul>e.  I  sat  wliere  I  could  see  him 
during  four  sessions  of  the  court,  and  4  saw  no  one  attempt, 
to  inform  him,  by  the  use  of  tlie  tulxr,  or  by  writing  or  print- 
ing, any  of  the  testimony  against  him,  tior  any  other  proceed- 
ings of  the  court.  His  inability  to  hear  was  generally  known, 
and  often  remarked  upon  in  the  press,  and  by  the  people. 

Julia  A.  Potter. 

Sworn  to  and  subscribed  before  me  this  26th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1905. 

[sE-^L.]  Lewis  F.  Lake, 

Clerk  Circuit  Court. 


State  of  Illinois,    ) 
Winnebago  County.  ^ 

I,  Byron  McGraw,  of  the  Town  of  Pecatonica,  County 
of  Winnebago,  State  of  Illinois,  first  being  duly  sworn,  on 
oath  testify  that  I  was  present  nearly  all  of  the  time  during 
the  trial  of  George  W.  Felts,  in  the  court  house,  in  the  City 


90  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

of  Rockford,  in  the  aforesaid  county  and  state,  in  the  January 
term  1905. 

I  testify,  under  oath,  that  no  one  attempted  to  repeat  to 
him,  either  through  his  eartube,  or  to  write  out  lor  him  to 
read,  or  to  typewrite  or  print  for  him  any  of  the  testimony  of 
the  witnesses,  or  any  other  word  that  was  said  by  any  one  dur- 
ing his  trial.  It  was  known  and  admitted  that  he  was  deaf 
by  all  connected  with  the  court,  and  generally  known  to  all 
present.  The  impression  seemed  to  be  that  because  he  was 
deaf  he  had  lost  all  his  rights  as  a  citizen,  and  that  it  was 
not  necessary  to  let  him  know  any  of  the  details  of  the  trial. 
It  was  not  necessary  to  deprive  him  of  his  right  to  a  legal 
trial,  as  he  can  read  both  writing  and  printing  as  well  as  any 
one.  Such  treatment  was  particularly  grievous  in  his  case, 
because  his  deafness  was  the  occasion  of  his  trouble  in  the 
first  place.  According  to  his  testimony,  which  was  believed 
by  his  attorney  and  by  many  of  the  best  citizens  of  the  coun- 
ty, he,  this  deaf  old  soldier,  was  made  the  victim  of  a  prac- 
tical joke  by  three  men  near  midnight,  when  there  was  no 
moon,  and  no  light  on  the  street,  or  in  the  windows  where  he  was 
passmg.  The  three  men  had  been  drinking,  and  as  he  stepped 
upon  the  sidewalk,  one  ran  against  him,  one  had  his  foot  out 
to  trip  him  up,  and  another  grasped  him  by  the  neck,  coming 
from  behind  him.  Finding  that  he  could  not  get  loose,  he,  the 
prisoner,  undertook  to  prick  the  man  in  the  leg  with  a  small 
pocket  knife,  not  expecting  to  do  any  serious  harm  and  not 
knowing  who  his  assailant  was.  Just  as  he  put  the  knife  back 
the  man  came  under  him  with  his  knee,  to  kick  him  forward, 
and  if  it  was  his  knife  that  made  the  wound,  that  was  when 
and  how  it  was  done.  It  was  claimed  that  the  loud  laughter 
of  the  men  at  the  time  showed  that  they  were  only  in  fun,  but 
as  he  could  not  hear  the  laughter,  nor  a  word  that  they  said, 
and  could  not  see  who  it  was,  it  was  serious  business  to  him. 

I  testify,  under  oath,  that  I  have  known  him  for  more 
than  twenty  years,  and  know  that  he  is  a  kind-hearted,  good 
man,  who  would  not  maliciously  injure  anv  one,  and  that  he 


of  George  W.  Felts  91 

has  always  been  a  law-abiding  citizen.  I  also  know  that  he 
was  a  particular  friend  of  the  man  who  was  cut,  and  had  he 
known  who  it  was  he  would  not  have  been  frightened  and 
would  not  have  used  his  knife.  On  account  of  his  deafness 
and  the  darkness  of  the  night,  he,  George  W.  Felts,  was  justi- 
fied in  believing  that  he  was  the  victim  of  a  vicious  hold-up. 

Byron  McGr.\w. 
Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  27th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1905. 

F.  A.  Sherlock,  J.  P. 

[seal.] 


State  of  Illinois,    ) 
Winnebago  County.  ^ 

I,  John  C.  Felts,  of  the  Town  of  Jesup,  State  of  Iowa, 
first  being  duly  sworn,  on  oath  testify,  that  I  was  present 
nearly  all  the  time  during  the  trial  of  George  \V.  Felts,  in  the 
court  house,  in  the  City  of  Kockford,  in  the  County  of  Win- 
nebago, and  State  of  Illinois,  in  the  rirrnit  Court,  in  the  Jan- 
uary term,  1905,  A.  D. 

I  testify,  that  I  sat  near  him  all  the  time,  and  by  his  side 
during  most  of  the  days  when  I  was  present.  I  sat  by  him 
during  the  time  the  evidence  was  being  presented,  and  I  tes- 
tify, under  oath,  that  no  provision  was  made  at  any  time,  dur- 
ing the  many  days  I  sat  by  his  side,  and  near  him,  to  com- 
municate to  him,  in  any  way,  either  by  speaking  through  his 
eartube,  which  he  carries  around  his  neck  for  that  purpose, 
nor  by  writing,  or  printing,  for  him  to  read,  any  of  the  testi- 
mony, nor  any  other  proceedings  of  the  court,  while  I  was 
present. 

I  also  testify,  that  the  State's  attorney  went  outside  of  the 
evidence  and  introduced  damaging  statements,  that  were 
wholly  untrue,  and  by  false  and  furious  denunciation,  prej- 
udiced the  jury.  He  was  particularly  insulting,  in  belittling 
the  faithful,  and  honorable  record  of  George  W.  Felts,  who. 


92  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

as  a  patriotic  soldier,  in  the  war  for  the  Union,  ahnost  lost  his 
life,  and  did  lose  his  hearing. 

I  also  testify,  that  it  is  my  belief,  and  the  belief  of  a  large 
number  of  persons,  who  were  present  at  the  trial,  that  George 
W.  Felts,  because  he  was  deaf,  and  could  not  hear  the  laughter 
of  the  men  who  seemed  to  be  waylaying  him,  thought  that  he 
was  the  victim  of  a  hold-up  in  the  midnight  darkness.  It 
was  proven  by  the  witnesses  for  the  state,  that  there  was  no 
moon  and  no  light  in  the  streets,  and  it  is  well  known  that  he 
can  not  see  very  well,  being  between  sixty  and  seventy  years 
of  age.  He,  and  the  man  who  was  cut,  had  always  been 
friends,  and,  had  he  known  who  it  was  that  came  upon  him, 
he  would  not  have  been  frightened  into  trying  to  prick  the 
man  with  his  pocket  knife. 

I  testify,  that  George  W.  Felts  has  always  been  a  gener- 
ous, kind-hearted  man,  especially  forbearing  in  provocation, 
and  that  the  State's  attorney,  in  asserting  the  contrary,  and  in 
pretending  that  the  said  George  W.  T^lts  was  ever  an  idle 
man,  went  outside  of  the  evidence  and  falsely  accused  one  of 
the  most  industrious  men  I  ever  knew. 

J.  C.  Felts. 

Jesup,  Buchanan  County,  Iowa. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  this  2d  day  of  October,  1905, 
before  me. 

H.  S.  Rich., 
Justice  of  Peace  of  Perry  Township,  Buchanan  County,  Iowa. 

[seal.] 

Affidavit  of  W.  A.  Wiseman, 

I,  W.  A.  Wiseman,  testify,  under  oath,  that  1  was  present 
at  all  the  proceedings  of  the  trial  of  George  W.  Felts  in  Rock- 
ford,  Illinois,  trial  beginning  January  16,  1905,  and  lasting 
about  two  weeks. 

First:  The  prisoner,  George  W.  Felts,  did  not  have  a  fair 
trial,  as  he  is  deaf  and  could  not  hear  the  testimony  nor  the 
pleadings  against  him,  and  there  was  no  effort  made  to  fur- 


of  George  W.  Felts  93 

nish  him  a  copy  of  either  at  the  time,  and  he  was  very  much 
surprised  at  different  things  which  were  reported  in  the  news- 
papers from  time  to  time  and  which  he  was  permitted  to  read 
after  it  was  too  late  for  him  to  make  any  satisfactory  use  of 
them. 

Second:.  The  Staic':s  aitorney,  went  outside  the  evidence 
and  made  accusations  in  his  statement  and  pleadings  which 
are  not  true,  and  which  I  beheve  resulted  in  the  conviction  of 
George  W.  Felts  ;  for  instance : 

(a)  He  told  the  jury  that  the  prisoner  was  an  idle  man. 
This  was  not  proven  and  is  not  true.  He  was  an  industrious 
man  until  he  was  almost  completely  broken  down  by  rheu- 
matism, and  what  they  call  "  blacksmith's  heart."  and  was  not 
an  idle  man  even  after  that. 

(bj  The  said  State's  attorney  also  made  false  and  dam- 
aging statements  in  his  pleadings  l>efore  the  jury  in  regard 
to  the  prisoner's  soldier  record,  thus  discrediting  a  loyal  and 
j)atriotic  soldier  who  lost  his  hearing  from  months  of  faith- 
ful service  and  came  near  losing  his  life,  and  holds  an  honor- 
able discharge  from  the  United  States  government. 

(c)  The  said  Stale's  attorney  also  claimed  that  George 
W.  Felts  was  looking  for  trouble  on  the  streets  the  night  that 
Spencer  Post  was  killed,  when  it  was  proven  by  three  witnesses. 
that  he  was  looking  for  men  who  were  to  haul  wood  for  him 
the  next  day,  and  no  one  testified  that  he  was  looking  for 
trouble. 

(d)  The  said  State's  attorney  showed  the  jury  how  the 
prisoner  held  his  knife  at  the  time  the  stabbing  was  done,  and 
declared  it  was  the  assassin's  grip,  when  there  was  nothing 
in  the  evidence  of  the  State's  witnesses  to  indicate  anything 
of  the  kind  as  to  the  manner  in  which  it  was  done. 

fe)  The  said  State's  attorney  also  declared  to  the  jury 
that  .Attorney  R.  K.  Welsh,  for  the  defense,  had  invented  the 
story  that  Spencer  Post  was  on  George  Felts  and  had  taught 
it  to  the  prisoner,  when  the  evidence  shows  that  two  of  the 
State's  witnesses,  namely :  Marshal  Weaver  and  Deputy  Sheriff 


94  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

Adam  Shorb,  testified  that  he  told  them  a  similar  story  at  the 
time  he  was  arrested,  while  several  others  of  the  state's  wit- 
nesses testified  that  George  W.  Felts  said  he  was  acting  in 
self-defense,  and  that  he  could  prove  it,  supposing  that  James 
Gaylord  and  Charles  Hodges  would  testify  as  to  what  occurred 
there  that  night,  as  they  were  present. 

)f(  I  believe  the  said  State's  attorney  by  going  outside 
of  the  evidence  at  times,  and  contradicting  it  at  other  times 
in  his  pleadings,  succeeded  in  misleading  the  jury  and  putting 
the  prisoner,  George  W.  Felts,  into  the  Joliet  prison  for  life, 
thus  outraging  justice  and  punishing  an  innocent  and  almost 
helpless  man. 

(g)  Most  of  the  damaging  statements  made  by  said 
State's  attorney  were  made  in  his  closing  plea,  so  that  the  at- 
torney for  the  defense  could  not  answer  them  in  open  court, 
and  thus  the  last  impression  made  upon  the  jury  was,  to  say 
the  least  of  it,  based  upon  falsehood  and  misrepresentation. 

(h)  For  the  foregoing  reasons,  I  ask  that  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  be  granted  George  W.  Felts,  as  prayed  for  in 
the  petition. 

W.  A.  Wiseman. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  1st  day  of  March, 
A. D.  1905. 

Elsie  Jayne  House, 
[seal.]  Notary  Public. 

In  the  Statement  of  Facts  and  Brief  for  Relator,  in  the 
Habeas  Corpus  proceedings  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  by  Hon.  W.  E.  Mason,  he  says : 

"  The  Relator  George  W.  Felts,  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  is  a  deaf  man,  being  unable  to  hear  excepting  through 
an  ear  trumpet,  and  then  only  when  the  person  speaking  to 
him  places  his  mouth  in  close  proximity  to  the  trumpet.  He 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Civil  War,  and  his  only  income  or  prop- 
erty is  a  small  pension  which  he  receives  from  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  given  to  him  on  the  ground  of  deafness 


of  George  W.  Felts  95 

which  misfortune  he  incurred  in  the  line  of  duty  during  the 
War  of  the  RebelHon. 

While  walking  along  the  streets  on  a  dark  night  he  was 
assaulted,  and  though  the  evidence  afterwards  developed,  that 
it  was  done  in  rough  sport,  he  thought  he  was  the  victim 
of  a  hold-up,  and  reached  back  of  him  with  his  small  pocket 
knife  and  inflicted  a  wound  from  which  his  assailant  died.  He 
was  thereafter  arrested  and  went  through  the  form  of  a  pre- 
liminary hearings,  during  which  preliminary  hearing,  no  word 
of  the  evidence  was  ever  transmitted  to  him,  either  through 
his  trumpet  or  by  writing  or  printing,  and  he  was  absolutely 
ignorant  of  what  transpired  at  the  preliminary  hearing  until  told 
thereafter,  through  his  eartubc,  that  he  had  been  bound  over, 
and  he  was  confined  in  the  county  jail  in  Winnebago  county 
for  a  period  of  six  months.  He  was  thereafter  indicted,  and 
on  the  trial  of  his  case  he  did  not  hear  a  single  word  that  was 
said  by  his  counsel  or  by  the  opposing  counsel,  during  the 
ciuire  examination  of  the  jury,  and  had  no  communication 
during  the  progress  of  the  examination  with  any  one  which 
would  enable  him  to  act  intelligently  u{)on  the  question  of  ac- 
cepting or  rejecting  of  jurors. 

His  case  was  tried  before  the  Circuit  Court  and  the  jury 
selected,  as  I  have  before  stated,  and  the  trial  lasted  abqut 
two  weeks.  He  had  in  his  possession  at  the  time  of  the  trial 
his  tar  trumpet  which  he  wore  around  his  neck,  but  which  was 
not  available  to  him  for  the  purjxjse  of  hearing,  unless  some 
one  had  repeated  the  proceedings  into  the  mouthpiece  of  the 
eartube.  No  one  was  appointed  to  do  this,  and  as  a  matter  of 
fact  he  did  not  hear  anything  that  the  witnesses  testified  to, 
who  were  against  him  in  the  trial  of  the  case,  and  so  far  as  his 
constitutional  rights  are  concerned,  he  might  as  well  have 
been  absent  from  the  court  room  during  the  whole  trial  up  to 
the  rendering  of  the  verdict. 

The  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  guilty,  which  the  record 
shows  the  relator  could  not  hear,  and  the  judge  asked  the 
clerk  of  the  court  to  write  it  upon  a  piece  of  paper,  tcllni'^  the 


96  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

relator  what  the  verdict  was  which  was  the  only  communica- 
tion he  received,  from  the  time  of  his  arrest  up  to  the  verdict, 
as  to  what  was  being  said  during  his  preliminary  examina- 
tion and  during  his  trial.  Afterwards  the  motion  for  a  new 
trial  was  asked  by  the  counsel,  and  argued  by  counsel  and  by 
State's  attorney,  not  a  word  of  which  was  communicated  to 
the  relator,  and  not  a  word  of  which  did  he  hear  or  under- 
stand. 

After  the  counsel  on  both  sides  had  concluded  their  argu- 
ments, the  relator  saw  the  judge  motion  to  him,  and  to  the 
sheriff  to  approach  the  bar,  and  he  appeared  before  the  Court 
and  the  sheriff  then,  placing  his  mouth  in  close  proximity  to 
the  mouthpiece  of  the  ear  trumpet,  stated  to  him  that  his  mo- 
tion for  a  new  trial  had  been  overruled,  and  that  the  court 
wished  to  know  if  he  had  anything  to  say  why  sentence  should 
not  be  pronounced  against  him.  The  relator  having  after  the 
trial  read  newspapers  as  to  the  statements  of  witnesses,  an- 
swered that  there  had  been  false  swearing  in  the  case,  and 
thereupon  the  judge  pronounced  sentence,  which  was  conveyed 
to  the  relator  by  the  sheriff  placing  his  mouth  in  close  prox- 
imity to  the  mouthpiece  of  the  eartube  informing  the  relator 
that  he  was  sentenced  for  life  to  the  penitentiary.  He  prayed 
an -appeal  and  was  allowed  ninety  days  in  which  to  file  a  bill  o^ 
exceptions,  but  the  transcript  of  evidence  alone  was  estimated 
to  cost  $700.00,  and  it  was,  and  is  absolutely  impossible  for 
him  to  perfect  his  appeal,  or  go  up  on  a  writ  of  crmr.  un<ler 
the  laws  of  the  State  of  Illinois. 

The  petition  and  record  shows  that  three  efforts  have 
been  made  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  His  honor  Judge 
Sanborn,  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States,  read  the 
petition  and  advised  friends  of  the  relator  not  to  file  it  until 
it  had  been  presented  to  the  state  courts.  Application  was 
made  before  the  Superior  Court  of  Cook  County,  and  his  Honop 
Judge  Honore;  considered  the  petition  and  practically  sus- 
tained the  claims  of  the  relator,  but  decided,  in  substance,  that 
while  the  judgment  was  void,  that  the  indictment  was  still  pend- 


of  George  W.  Felts  97 

ing,  and  that  it  would  not  do  to  release  him  by  writ  of  habeas 
corpus.  The  court  and  his  counsel  both  recognized  the  great 
hardship  of  the  defendant  being  tried  without  knowing  what 
was  being  testified  against  him,  and  it  is  to  be  presumed  that 
had  they  known  the  well  settled  rule  of  procedure  for  the  trial 
of  a  deaf  person,  they  would  have  given  him  the  benefit  of 
that  procedure;  but  the  fact  remains  that  the  relator  was  de- 
prived of  his  constitutional  right  to  face  his  accusers,  to  see 
and  be  seen,  to  hear  and  be  heard. 

That  the  court  felt  that  an  injustice  had  been  done  the  re- 
lator is  clear  from  the  Court's  own  statement  at  the  time  the 
motion  for  a  new  trial  was  overruled.  The  statement  is  set  up 
as  an  exhibit  and  shows  that  in  court  overruling  tlie  motion  for 
a  new  trial,  the  judge  said  : 

'*  It  is  to  be  regretted,  in  one  sense,  that  the  defendant 
on  account  of  his  infirmity  is  unable  to  know  clearly  what  has 
been  done.  He  should  be  informed,  I  suppose  of  the  fact  that 
his  motion  for  a  new  trial  has  been  overruled 

Mr.  Sheriff — Will  you  bring  Mr.  Felts  forward ;-' 

The  record  shows  that  he  was  asked  the  usual  questions 
through  the  ear  trumpet,  and  then  the  court  before  sentencing 
Mr.  Felts,  said:  **  Well,  under  the  circumstances,  of  course, 
it  is  practically  impossible  for  me  to  say  anything  to  this  de- 
fendant." 

The  sentence  was  thereupon  transmitted  to  the  defendant 
by  the  sheriff  through  the  eartube. 

(See  affidavit  of  official  stenographer.) 

The  points  I  propose  to  make  in  support  of  the  petition 
for  habeas  corpus,  and  in  support  of  the  constitutional  rights 
of  the  relator  upon  which  I  shall  hereinafter  cite  authorities, 
are  as  follows : 

1st.  Tlie  relator  George  \\  .  i  cits  was  deprived.of  his  con- 
stitutional right  of  being  tried  by  due  process  of  law. 

2nd.  That  article  \T  of  the  constitution  (of  the  United 
States)  was  also  violated,  which  provides  that  in  all  criminal 
prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  of  a  speedy  and 


98  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

public  trial  by  an  impartial  jury,  and  shall  be  informed  of  the 
nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation,  and  shall  be  confronted 
with  the  witnesses  against  him,  etc. 

3d.  The  trial  was  a  violation  of  the  constitution  of  the 
State  of  Illinois,  which  provides  that  the  accused  shall  have 
the  right  to  appear  and  defend  himself  in  person,  and  by  coun- 
sel. (The  previous  constitution  of  Illinois  did  not  provide 
that  the  prisoner  might  defend  in  person,  but  that  he  should 
be  heard.  The  Constitution  of  1870,  above  quoted,  provides 
that  the  accused  shall  have  the  right  to  appear  and  defend 
in  person.) 

4th.  The  court,  when  it  deprived  the  relator,  George  W. 
Felts,  of  his  constitutional  right,  lost  jurisdictinn,  and  judg- 
ment entered  thereafter  was  void. 

5th.  The  relator,  George  W.  Felts,  did  not  l)y  his  silence, 
waive  his  constitutional  right  to  have  communicated  to  him 
the  evidence  of  the  witnesses  testifying  against  him. 

6th.  The  relator,  George  W.  Felts,  could  not  by  himself 
or  by  counsel  after  a  plea  of  not  guilty,  waive  his  constitu- 
tional right  to  have  communicated  to  him  the  whole  proceed- 
ings of  his  trial. 

7th.  All  the  proceedings  after  the  arrest  of  the  relator,  in- 
cluding the  preliminary  hearing,  trial,  verdict,  and  sentence, 
all  merged  into  the  judgment  of  the  court,  and  all  must  stand 
or  fall  with  the  judgment. 

As  to  the  first  proposition,  I  respectfully  submit  that  the 
court  is  familiar  with  the  Federal  constitution  and  its  decisions. 

The  constitution  of  the  State  of  Illinois  provides  that  '*  no 
person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without 
due  process  of  law." 

Section  5  provides  that  ''  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  as  here- 
tofore eujoxed  shall  remain  inviolate."  (that  means  the  Com- 
mon Law  trial  in  which  the  accused  should  know  every  word 
that  was  said,  by  juror  by  witness  by  counsel  for  both  sides,  and 
by  the  judge.) 

Section  9,  provides  that  ''  the  accused  shall  have  the  right 


of  George  W.  Felts  99 

to  appear  and  defend  in  person,  and  by  counsel,  and  shall  meet 
the  zi'itnesses  face  to  face,  etc. 

Section  7  provides  that  **  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  sliali 
not  be  suspended  unless  in  case  of  rebellion  or  invasion." 

Section  19  provides  that  *'  every  person  ought  to  find  a 
certain  remedy  in  the  laws  for  all  injuries  and  wrongs  which  he 
may  receive  in  his  person,  property  or  reputation.  Me  ought  to 
obtain  by  law,  right  and  justice  freely." 

By  the  constitution  of  the  state,  as  well  as  by  the  Federal 
constitution,  the  common  law  right  to  a  trial  by  a  jury  in  crim- 
inal cases  is  guaranteed,  and  **  all  trials  for  criminal  offenses 
should  be  conducted  according  to  the  Course  of  the  Common 
'.aw. 

The  first  inquiry  that  naturally  arises  is,  what  is  Common 
Law  right  of  trial  by  jury,  for  a  man  who  is  suffering  with 
the  infirmity  of  deafness?  Tlie  rules  of  procedure  in  such  a 
case  have  long  been  established." 

After  a  careful  r<?view  of  many  cases  both  in  i  n^i.m<i  and 
the  United  States  from  the  time  of  Lord  Hale,  (See  HaleV 
Pleas  of  the  Crown,  volume  1,  P.  34)  which  is  followed  by 
the  practice  since  that  decision,  according  to  the  precedents 
cited  by  Senator  Mason,  among  which  were  Rex  vs.  Dyson. 
rei)orted  in  2  Lewin's  Criminal  case  64,  Rex  vs.  Pritchard  32 
Fng.  Common  Law.  ReiH)rts  517.  James  Berry,  Coxe's  Crim- 
inal Law  vol.  13,  I*.  \^).  Thompson's  case,  2  Lewin.  P.  137, 
and  State  vs.  William  Harris,  SZ  North  Carolina  Reports  P. 
136,  or  Jones  Law  of  North  Carolina  vol  8.  P.  28. 

After  an  extended  review  of  the  North  Carolina  case,  it 
being  one  of  the  notable  ones  in  the  L'nited  States.  Senator 
Mason  proceeded  with  his  arginnent  as  follows: 

**  I  have  set  out  this  case  at  considerable  length,  to  show 
that  under  the  Common  Law,  there  can  be  no  trial  unless  the 
defendant  is  permitted  to  know,  and  understand,  the  nature 
and  puri)Ose  of  the  trial,  and  that  he  could  not  have  his  Com- 
mon Law  rights,  and  what  were,  therefore  clearly  his  con- 
stitutional rights,  unless  he  could  hear,  or  have  communicated 


100 


Trial  and  Imprisonment 


to  him  in  some  proper  way  the  evidence  of  witnesses,  examma- 
tion  of  jurors,  and  all  the  details  of  the  trial. 

As  to  the  second  proposition,  I  respectfully  submit  that 
under  the  showing  by  the  petition  and  affidavits  that  the  re- 
lator never  had  any  trial  as  contemplated  by  the  article  of  the 
constitution  cited. 

In  regard  to  the  third  proposition,  I  respectfully  submit 
that  at  no  time  or  place  was  the  relator  permitted  to  defend 
himself  in  person,  and  that  the  failure  to  communicate  to  him 
the  details  of  the  trial  as  it  proceeded,  was  a  denial  of  that  right 
under  the  constitution.  The  Common  Law  rule  of  procedure 
was  contained  in  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  for  the  government 
of  the  Northwestern  Territory,  Art.  2 :  "  The  inhabitants  of 
said  territory  shall  always  be  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus,  and  of  a  trial  by  jury,  and  of  judicial  process 
according  to  the  Course  of  the  Common  Law." 

The  Illinois  Constitution  of  1818,  recites  its  admission  into 
the  general  government  ''  Consistent  zuifh  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  and  the  benefits  of  the  acts  of  Congress  of 
1787." 

Every  State  Constitution  has  provided  for  trial  by  jury  as 
heretofore  enjoyed,  and  the  statute  of  Illinois  provides,  that 
trials  for  criminal  ofifenses  shall  be  conducted  according  to 
the  course  of  the  Common  Law,  except  where  the  statute  points 
out  a  different  mode. 

There  can  be  no  claim  that  the  Illinois  Legislature  has 
ever  attempted  to  change  this  procedure  even  in  form. 

If  the  court  had  pursued  the  Common  Law  rule  of  pro- 
ceeding before  the  jury  in  this  case,  1st.  It  would  have  deter- 
mined the  extent  of  the  defendant's  affliction,  using  a  jury  if 
necessary. 

2d.  If  the  defendant  was  able  to  read,  the  indictment 
should  be  handed  to  him,  with  the  usual  questions  written 
upon  paper. 

3d  The  prisoner  should  then  plead. 

4th.  Then  he  should  answer,  how  he  would  be  tried. 


of  George  W.  Felts  101 

5th.  The  names  of  all  the  jurors  should  be  handed  to  him, 
and  the  questions  asked  them,  and  their  answers  to  the  ques- 
tions should  each  be  communicated  to  him,  and  he  should  be 
asked  at  the  close  of  the  examination  of  each  juror  whether 
he  objected  to  him,  and  so  on  till  all  were  chosen. 

6th.  The  Judge's  notes  of  evidence  (or  transcript  of  ste- 
nographer) at  the  end  of  the  testimony  of  each  witness  should 
have  been  transcribed  and  should  have  been  given  to  him 
and  he  should  have  been  asked  whether  he  had  any  questions 
to  ask.  The  verdict  should  be  written  out  and  handed  to  him. 
That  is,  he  should  be  informed  of  the  details  of  the  trial  as 
it  progressed. 

The  Common  Law  form  of  jury  trial  as  guaranteed  by  the 
Federal  Court  on  14th  Amendment,  as  to  due  process,  pro- 
vides that  the  proceedings  must  be  clearly  imparted,  or  com- 
municated to  the  prisoner — particularly  the  examination  of 
the  jurors,  and  the  testimony  of  the  witnesses  who  testify 
against  him.  Having  never  heard,  nor  had  communicated  to 
him  the  examination  of  the  jurors,  he  could  not  ask  questions, 
and  having  never  heard  the  evidence  of  the  witnesses  against 
him,  he  could  not  suggest  cross-examination.  He  was  entitled 
to  be  present  to  "  hear  and  to  be  heard  "  and  was  therefore 
denied  a  constititutional  right. 

Our  next  proposition  is  that,  even  though  the  court  had 
at  the  beginning  of  the  trial,  full  and  complete  jurisdiction  of 
the  offense  and  the  person,  yet  when  the  court  deprived  the 
prisoner  of  any  constitutional  right,  it  lost  jurisdiction,  and 
the  judgment  was  void. 

'*  If  the  court  errs  in  interpreting  a  constitutional  im- 
munity or  right  secured  thereby,  against  the  prisoner,  or  in 
refusing  him  a  constitutional  right,  the  jurisdiction  over  him 
ceases,  and  his  acts  over  him  are  not  simply  erroneous,  but 
void.    "  in  re  Neilson  131,  U.  S.  p.  183,  and  other  cases. 

Suppose  in  the  case  at  bar,  the  Illinois  Legislature  had 
passed  an  act  for  the  trial  of  prisoners  who  were  deaf,  which 
in  affirmative  terms,  prohibited  the  prisoner  from  hearing  (or 


102  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

knowing)  the  examination  of  jurors,  and  hearing,  (or  know- 
ing) what  the  witnesses  said  who  testified  against  him,  and 
providing  that  the  only  thing  necessary  for  the  prisoner  to 
hear  (or  know)  would  be  the  verdict  and  sentence.  Clearly 
such  act  would  violate  the  14th  Amendment  as  to  '*  due  proc- 
ess "  and  also  because  denying  ''  equal  protection." 

On  the  contrary  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  Illinois  pro- 
vide for  the  adoption  of  the  Common  Law,  which  prescribes  af- 
firmatively, that  a  deaf  person  shall  have  communicated  to  him, 
the  examination  of  jurors,  etc.,  and  no  statute  in  IlHnois  has 
been  passed  abridging  the  Common  Law  right  of  a  deaf 
prisoner  to  have  the  examination  of  jurors  and  witnesses  trans- 
lated to  him,  and  the  practice  of  that  state  is  to  follow  that 
Common  Law  method  and  secure  that  Common  Law  right. 

A  deaf  and.  dumb  man,  tried  and  convicted,  and  sen- 
tenced, before  Judge  ]McEwing,  within  the  year  had,  upon  the 
suggestion  of  the  court  not  only  the  indictment  translated  to 
him,  but  through  an  interpreter  had  the  examination  of  the 
jurors  and  all  the  witnesses  interpreted  to  him.  So  that  the 
treatment  of  Felts,  in  not  giving  him  that  trial  not  only  vio- 
lated the  laws  of  Illinois,  and  the  practice  of  its  courts,  but  is 
totally  repugnant  to  the  14th  Amendment  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  L'nited  States,  which  provides  for  *'  due  process  "  and 
*'  equal  protection."  In  the  case  at  bar,  there  is  no  claim  that 
the  Illinois  constitution  or  Legislature  has  ever  attempted  to 
deprive  a  deaf  person,  tried  for  crime,  of  the  Common  Law 
right  to  know  the  examination  of  jurors  and  witnesses.  The 
contrary  is  true.  That  state  provides  in  its  constitution  for 
such  Common  Law  right,  and  the  courts  of  that  state  always 
give  a  deaf  prisoner  that  right,  the  only  exception  that  I  have 
ever  heard  of,  is  the  case  at  bar,  and  pardon  repetition,  in  this 
case  the  prisoner  was  deprived  of  one  of  the  "  natural  rights 
of  man  ''  he  was  deprived  of  one  of  the  rights  granted  to 
others  by  the  laws  and  practice  of  Illinois,  and  therefore  de- 
prived of  "  due  process  "  and  "  equal  protection  of  the  laws." 

In  the  case  at  bar  we  allege  and  show  that  due  process  in 


of  George  W.  Felts  103 

Illinois  is  the  Common  Laic  process.  That  it  was  made  so  by 
the  Constitution  and  Statutes  of  Illinois,  and  when  the  Con- 
stitution provides  that  all  criminal  cases  shall  be  tried  by  the 
rule  of  Common  Law  proceedings,  except  when  limited  by 
statute,  and  there  being  no  statutory  rule  for  the  trial  of  a 
person  who  is  deaf,  it  is  the  same  as  saying,  all  deaf  persons 
shall  be  tried  when  charged  with  crime  by  the  rules  and  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Common  Law. 

There  is  no  controversy  as  to  the  facts  set  up  in  the  peti- 
tion of  the  relator.  The  facts  are  that  Felts  was  convicted 
and  sentenced  for  life,  without  having  heard  one  word  of  the 
examination  of  the  jurors,  or  one  word  of  the  evidence  given 
against  him.  The  only  part  of  the  proceedings  of  which  he  was 
advised  was ;  the  verdict  was  written  out  for  liim  and  his 
sentence  was  given  by  the  sheriff,  through  the  ear  trumpet.  I 
respectfully  claim  that  this  was  a  denial  of  due  process  of  law, 
and  deprived  him  of  his  liberty  without  due  process  of  law 
as  prescribed  by  the  Common  Law  and  secondly,  that  it  de- 
prived him  of  the  {privileges  and  immunities  granted  to  others 
in  this : 

1st.  Every  other  citizen  in  his  condition  was  given  the 
Common  Law  right  to  hear  or  to  know  the  examination  of  the 
jurors,  and  of  the  witnesses  against  him. 

2nd.  That  the  only  way  he  could  api>eal  or  get  a  review  in 
the  State  Supreme  Court  by  a  writ  of  error  was  to  pay  $700.00 
necessary  to  write  up  the  evitlence  for  a  liill  of  Exceptions 
which  he  was  absolutely  unable  to  do. 

Whereas,  any  other  citizen  possessed  of  $700.00  could  get 
a  hearing  on  his  constitutional  right  and  all  other  questions. 

I  respectfully  suggest  that  when  a  state  by  its  statutes  or 
the  court's  of  that  state  by  its  rules  of  practice,  say  to  a 
prisoner  your  constitutional  question  can  only  be  raised  on  an 
appeal  at  a  cost  of  $700.00  which  is  possible  for  some  and  im- 
IX)ssible  for  others,  then  the  laws  and  ])ractice  of  that  state 
lack  uniformity,  and  limit  the  privileges  of  the  poorer  classes 
in  violation  of  the  Federal  Constitution. 


104  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

This  case  shows  that  in  Illinois  the  moneyed  class  may  go 
up  on  appeal,  and  the  class  without  money  cannot  and  this  in 
face  of  the  high  sounding  constitution  setting  forth  that 
"  every  person  ought  to  obtain  by  law  right  and  justice  freely 
and  without  being  obliged  to  purchase  it." 

The  warden  by  his  counsel  contends  that  we  seek  by  this 
writ,  to  have  it  take  the  place  of  a  writ  of  error,  or  appeal. 
We  have  shown  why  we  cannot  take  a  writ  of  error  or  appeal, 
and  insist  respectfully  that  having  been  deprived  of  a  constitu- 
tional right,  zve  are  not  limited  to  a  zcrit  of  error,  or  appeal 
from  a  void  judgment.  In  the  twenty  cases  cited  by  the 
warden's  counsel  there  is  not  a  single  case  where  this  court 
has  refused  to  grant  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  after  finding  that 
the  prisoner  had  been,  on  his  trial,  denied  any  constitutional 
right." 

The  long  argument  to  sustain  this  statement  together 
with  the  numerous  precedents  ofifered  to  prove  it  will  be  re- 
served for  a  revised  edition  of  this  book,  or  presented  in  a 
separate  volume,  to  more  fully  show  the  history  (  meaning,  and 
use,  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  the  masterly  presenta- 
tion of  its  relation  to  the  rights  of  the  citizen,  as  set  forth  by 
Hon.  W.  E.  Mason  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  In  that  paper  will  also  be  discussed  the  serious  and 
alarming  fact  that  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Illinois, 
refused  permission  for  the  filing  of  this  deaf  old  sol- 
dier's petition  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  President 
Roosevelt  says  in  his  message,  the  safety  of  the  people 
is  in  publicity,  so  far  as  the  acts  of  those  who  serve  the  people 
are  concerned,  whether  they  are  common  carriers  or  the  agents 
of  the  people  in  public  position. 

We  did  not  know  that  we  had  a  right  to  go  to  the  judge 
and  show  him  in  the  interest  of  truth  and  justice,  that  the 
wicked  rumors  were  untrue.  We  actually  supposed  that  the 
judge  held  the  honor  of  his  office  so  high  that  we  should  be 
taken  for  contempt  of  court,  if  we  approached  him  privately 
with   the   truth.    Sam   Jones   said,   he   "  was   fool   enough   to 


of  George  W.  Felts  105 

think  when  he  first  became  a  Methodist  preacher  that  the  Lord 
made  the  appointments,"  so  we  had  the  proper  honor  for  his 
Honor  the  Judge,  and  we  still  have,  and  it  will  not  be  our  fault 
if  we  can't  keep  it. 

There  seems  to  be  a  tendency  to  assume,  that  the  old,  deaf 
soldier  should  have  known  all  about  his  rights  under  the  law 
and  the  constitution  and  that  he  should  have  carefully  in- 
structed the  court  and  the  State's  attorney  how  to  proceed,  to 
try  him,  so  as  to  secure  his  rights,  that  they  were  under  no 
obligation  to  see  that  he  had  a  just  and  legal  trial  if  he  did 
not  know  what  those  rights  were.  If  that  were  true,  we 
should  have  to  postpone  every  trial,  until  the  citizen  could  have 
time  to  attend  a  law  school  long  enough  to  learn  how  to  try  a 
case  legally,  and  take  time  also  to  see  that  the  judge  and  the 
lawyers  were  properly  informed  as  to  all  the  rights  of  the  ac- 
cused, and  how  to  secure  them. 

This  absurd  pretense  will  not  deceive  even  the  most  igno- 
rant citizen.  On  the  contrary  the  most  careless  reader  of  the 
laws  of  every  state,  and  of  the  laws  and  decisions  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  knows,  that  as  Senator  Mason  argued  that  when 
the  accused  pleads  not  guilty  neither  he,  nor  his  attorney,  can 
waive  his  rights,  and  that  the  practice  of  the  courts  is  to  "  con- 
sider that  the  prisoner  is  standing  on  all  of  his  rights,  waiving 
nothing  on  the  score  of  irregularity." 

It  would  be  a  strange  thing  to  change  the  settled  law, 
and  custom  of  the  courts,  and  make  an  exception  of  an  old 
blacksmith,  a  deaf  old  soldier,  who  lost  his  hearing  in  the  ser- 
vice of  his  country,  and  was  taken  through  his  trial  without 
having  any  of  the  proceedings  communicated  to  him  while  the 
trial  was  in  progress,  in  consequence  of  which  neglect  the  evi- 
dence that  would  have  proven,  that  so  far  as  he  acted  at  all, 
he  acted  in  self  defense,  was  left  out.  and  he  never  knew  it 
till  after  the  trial,  when  it  was  too  late,  and  he  could  not 
have  his  case  reviewed  by  the  higher  court  because  he  could 
not  furnish  $700.00,  to  buy  justice,  and  who  was  prevented 
by  the  State's  attorney,  from  having  his  case  reviewed,  after 


106  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

the  friends  of  the  old  soldiers  had  paid  an  exorbitant  sum  for 
the  record,  and  bill  of  exceptions  for  the  reason  that,  "  the 
method  of  interpretation  necessary  "  to  have  this  deaf  old 
citizen  understand  the  proceedings,  "  would  involve  great  de- 
lay." 

What  though  he  was  falsely  accused  ?  The  valuable  time 
of  this  State's  attorney  would  be  wasted.  What  though  the 
constitutions  of  both  state  and  nation  must  be  set  aside,  and 
the  established  court  practice  of  centuries?  What  was  all  this 
when  the  State's  attorney's  time  was  so  precious?  What 
though  the  life  of  a  veteran  of  the  Civil  War  was  at  stake  on 
a  false  accusation?  What  though  the  terrible  affliction  of  deaf- 
ness was  caused  by  the  bursting  of  a  shell  over  his  head  while 
defending  the  life  of  his  country,  and  while  also  suffering  from 
disease  the  trouble  with  his  hearing  was  increased  so  that  both 
ears  were  involved,  and  he  was  so  handicapped  in  the  subse- 
quent struggle  for  life  that  his  whole  life  has  been  one  of  depri- 
vation and  sorrow  ?  What  is  this  compared  to  a  few  hours  of 
the  State's  attorney's  time?  Even  the  high  priced  counsel  of 
the  old  soldier  must  be  limited  in  time,  to  give  plenty  of  time 
to  the  man  who  made  the  closing  speech.  The  labyrinth  o^ 
falsehood  he  had  chosen  instead  of  the  straight  line  of  truth 
required  so  much  time  there  was  none  to  spare  for  the  old, 
deaf  patriot. 


of  George  W.  Felts  107 


CHAPTER  III. 

Review  of  the  Evidence. 

By  W.  a.  Wiseman. 

There  are  two  conflicting  stories  in  regard  to  tho 
circumstances,  that  surrounded  Spencer  Post,  at  the 
time  he  received  the  wound,  which  resulted  in  his  death. 
James  Gaylord  and  Charles  Hodges,  are  the  authors  of  one  of 
these  stories,  and  George  W.  Felts  a  deaf  old  soldier  who  wa? 
sent  to  the  prison  for  life,  is  the  author  of  the  other.  They 
were  the  only  persons  present,  at  the  time  that  this  sad  affair 
took  place,  and  as  their  stories  were  diametrically  opposed  to 
each  other,  1  have  always  contended  that  all  three  of  them 
should  have  been  arrested  and  kept  separated  from  one  another 
until  all  the  facts,  as  far  as  it  was  possible,  were  brought  to 
the  li^dit.  Instead  of  this,  the  deaf  old  soldier  was  promptly 
arrested,  and  lodgcil  in  the  jail  for  the  night,  and  early  the  next 
morning  he  was  handcuffed  and  hurried  otT  to  the  County  Jail 
twenty  miles  away  although  he  was  deaf,  and  broken  in  health, 
and  attended  by  three  officers,  all  of  whom  were  strong  men, 
and  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  they  were  all  armed.  Why 
handcuff  this  helpless  old  soldier,  when  the  Constitution  of  tlie 
I'nited  States  plainly  declares  that  no  cruel  or  inhuman  punish- 
ment shall  be  indicted  upon  a  prisoner,-  even  after  he  is  con- 
demned? He  told  the  officers  from  the  very  first  that  somebody 
was  on  him  in  the  dark,  and  that  if  he  had  hurt  any  one,  he 
had  done  it  in  self-defense.  He  was  therefore  to  be  treated 
as  an  innocent  man.  until  he  was  proven  guiltv.  The  deputy 
slieriff  who  has  made  his  reputation  largely  by  championing  the 
rights  of  birds  and  cats  and  dogs,  and  fowls  and  animals  of 
different  kinds,  made  a  flat  failure  of  it,  when  the  opportunity 
presented  itself  for  him  to  apply  his  humane  principles  to  hi^ 


108  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

Brother  Man.     But  what  about  Gaylord  and  Hodges?     Were 
they  arrested  and  lodged  in  the  jail,  and  made  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  the  part  they  took  in  this  performance?     No,  they 
were  allowed  to  go  scot  free,  and  associate  together  until  the 
coroner's  jury  met  to  listen  to  their  unreasonable  and  untruth- 
ful stories,  that  they  had  concocted  no  doubt,  for  fear  of  being 
implicated  in  the  crime  themselves.     Has  it  ever  occurred  to 
my  readers  that  George  Felts  had  just  as  much  right  to  be  at 
that  coroner's  inquest,  and  tell  his  story,  and  show  the  jury 
the    condition  of  his  neck,   as  James    Gaylord    and    Charles 
Hodges  had  to  tell  them  their  story?     But  George  Felts  was 
held  behind  the  bars  as  in  a  vise,  twenty  miles  away,  with  his 
neck  marked  and  bruised  and  swollen  from  the  rough  treat- 
ment, he  had  received  the  night  before,  while  that  coroner's 
jury  were  listening  to  the  false  accusations  of  the  very  men 
who  were  as  much  interested  ih  the  outcome  of  the  case  as  he 
was.     This  matter  will  bear  investigation,  and  I  am  sure  that 
the    law-abiding    citizens  of   Winnebago  county,   and   of  the 
whole  State  of  Illinois  will  agree  with  me,  when  they  have 
read  the  contents  of  this  book.     The  story  of  this  sad  affair  as 
told  by  Gaylord  and  Hodges,  is  unreasonable  from  start  to 
finish.     In  order  to  understand  the  situation  as  it  is,  several 
things  should  be  taken  into  consideration.      In  a  matter  that 
involves  the  life  or  liberty  of  a  human  being,  we  should  not 
be  too  hasty  in  making  up  our  minds.     We  should  be  willing 
to  do  a  whole  lot  of  thinking,  before  we  come  to  any  conclusion. 
It  is  an  awful  thing  to  condemn  a  man  to  life  imprisonment, 
a  deaf  man,  who  pleads  not  guilty,  and  who  never  heard  any- 
thing that  the  witnesses  said  against  him  in  his  trial.    What  we 
are  trying  to  get  at,  are  the  facts  in  the  case.     If  Gaylord  and 
Hodges  told  the  truth  about  this  matter,  the  old  man  Felts 
ought  to  be  punished,  and  I  desire  to  put  myself  on  record 
right  here,  that  if  I  believed  that  Spencer  Post  came  to  his 
death  in  the  way  that  they  would  have  us  believe  that  he  did. 
I  would  not  lift  a  finger  to  help  get  him  out  of  the  prison 
until  I  was  satisfied  that  he  had  paid  the  penalty  for  his  crime, 


of  George  W.  Felts  109 

at  least  in  a  measure.  Let  no  one  think  that  I  am  trying  to  get 
this  deaf  old  soldier  out  of  the  prison,  simply  because  he  i^ 
my  wife's  brother.  My  efforts  in  his  behalf  have  sprung  from 
an  entirely  different  motive  than  that.  I  am  trying  to  get  him 
out,  because  I  do  not  believe  he  is  guilty  of  the  crime  charged 
against  him.  I  have  read  all  the  evidence  in  the  case,  and 
have  studied  all  the  circumstances  bearing  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  to  me  the  story  of  the  death  of  Post,  as 
told  by  Gaylord  and  Hodges  is  unreasonable,  from 
start  to  finish  and  I  am  frank  to  say  that  I  do  not, 
believe  one  word  of  it.  1  believe  that  George  Felts  is  suffer- 
ing an  unjust  penalty.  I  don't  believe  that  he  had  any  thought 
of  killing  any  one  when  he  left  his  home,  and  went  up  town 
that  dreadful  night.  I  believe  that  some  one  had  him  by  the 
neck  in  the  dark,  and  that  he  did  not  know  who  it  was,  and  that 
he  became  frightened,  and  undertook  to  defend  himself,  with 
no  thought  of  killing  any  one.  With  these  general  remarks 
before  my  readers,  I  will  now  ask  you  to  patiently  examine 
the  evidence  with  me,  and  see  if  you  don't  come  to  the  same 
conclusion  that  I  have.  In  considering  testimony,  there  are 
three  things  to  study.  First  the  character  of  the  witnesses, 
second,  what  these  witnesses  say,  and  third,  the  circumstances 
connected  with  the  whole  case.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  do 
these  witnesses  any  injustice,  but  like  every  one  else  they  must 
stand  on  their  merits. 

As  to  James  Gaylord  the  record  says  nothing  about  his 
character  so  we  shall  proceed  at  once  to  consider  his  evfdence. 
I  have  before  me  the  certified  Court  Record  as  I  write,  which 
includes  everything  that  was  said  on  the  witness  stand  in  the 
trial  that  I  am  now  reviewing.  When  this  witness  was  before 
the  coroner's  jury,  he  testified  as  follows.  "  Felts  in  walking 
past  me,  before  passing  Post,  did  not  strike  me  in  any  way.  He 
walked  around  me  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge."  In  the  reg- 
ular trial  he  was  asked  this  question.  "  What  did  he  do, 
if  anything  as  he  came  along?"  Ans.  "  I  didn't  see  him  do 
nothing,  as   he  came  along  he  hit  my  foot."     Then  he  was 


110  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

a-ked  "Did  he  hit  it  hard?"  Ans.  "He  run  into  it."  The 
reader  will  see  that  in  these  two  statements,  this  witness  tes- 
tified one  way  before  the  coroner's  jury,  and  directly  the  op- 
posite in  the  regular  trial.  Is  such  a  witness  to  be  believed 
when  we  are  dealing  with  a  man's  life  and  liberty?  Does  he 
not  discredit  himself?  On  another  very  material  point  he  is 
discredited  by  two  witnesses.  In  the  regular  trial  he  was  asked 
this  question.  ''  Now  from  the  time  that  Post  got  down  onto 
the  sidewalk,  after  he  was  bleeding,  until  he  crawled  around 
the  corner,  you  were  there  beside  him  or  near  him  all  the  time  ?" 
Ans.    *'  I  was  until  he-  crawled  around  the  corner." 

The  question  was  then  asked  "  Did  you  leave  that  place 
at  any  time,  until  after  he  crawled  around  the  corner?"  Ans. 
*'  No,  sir."  Two  of  the  witnesses  who  made  depositions,  that 
were  submitted  to  the  Board  of  Pardons,  testified  that  they 
passed  the  Davis  saloon  corner,  near  the  hour  of  midnight,  on 
the  evening  of  August  6th  A.  D.  1904,  and  that  there  was 
a  man  lying  on  the  sidewalk,  in  front  of  tlie  saloon  bleeding 
profusely,  and  that  they  learned  soon  afterwards  that  he  was 
Spencer  Post.  They  testified,  that  they  were  within  about  three 
feet  of  the  wounded  man  as  they  passed  him,  and  that  there 
was  no  one  with  him,  or  near  him.  On  direct  examination, 
they  were  asked.  "  Did  you  look  to  see  if  there  was  any  one 
with  him?"  To  which  they  answered,  "Yes  sir."  On  cross- 
examination  they  were  asked  the  following  question.  '*  Could 
you  have  seen  any  one  if  he  had  been  there?"  Ans.  "Yes 
sir."  These  two  witnesses  testify  positively,  that  the  wounded 
man  was  lying  there  on  the  sidewalk  all  alone.  As  we  have 
already  shown,  Gaylord  testified  in  the  regular  trial,  that  he 
never  left  Post  from  the  time  he  was  stabbed,  until  after  he 
crawled  around  the  corner,  and  now,  we  have  proven  by  two 
witnesses,  according  to  the  record  before  the  Board  of  Pardons, 
that  he  was  not  present  when  they  saw  Post  lying  in  front  of 
the  saloon  as  they  passed  by  him,  on  their  way  home  from  the 
dance.  Why  does  Gaylord  tell  us  that  he  was  present  with 
Post,  all  the  time,  until  after  he  crawled  around  the  corner. 


of  George  W.  Felts  111 

when  he  was  not  ?  Does  not  that  kind  of  evidence  look  mighty 
suspicious,  to  a  person  who  is  seeking  after  the  truth  ?  Where 
was  Gaylord,  when  these  two  witnesses  passed  by  there  that 
night?  I  wonder  if  he  and  Hodges  could  have  been  off  to- 
gether somewhere,  making  up  their  unreasonable  story,  with 
which  to  deceive  the  people  ?  Let  us  notice  Gaylord's  testimony 
as  he  gave  it  in  the  regular  trial.  He  says,  he  was  sitting  in 
a  chair,  in  front  of  the  Davis  saloon,  in  Durand,  Illinois,  near 
the  hour  of  midnight,  August  6,  A.  D.  1904.  He  says  Charles 
Hodges  was  sitting  on  a  chair  directly  south  of  him,  anywhere 
from  two  to  six  feet  away.  And  that  Spencer  Post,  the  man 
who  was  killed,  was  standing  up  directly  north  of  him,  leaning 
against  the  saloon  building,  and  close  enough  to  him,  that  his 
shoulder  touched  him.  Gaylord  says  that  his  chair  was  tilted 
back,  and  that  he  was  resting  his  head  against  the  saloon  build- 
ing, and  that  his  left  leg  was  thrown  across  his  right  leg  and 
that  one  foot  was  sticking  out  somewhere  near  the  middle  of 
the  sidewalk,  which  was  about  eight  feet  wide.  He  says  Felt«> 
came  up  from  the  south,  passed  by  them,  and  went  on  north. 
In  the  regular  trial  Gaylord  says,  that  he  was  looking  straight 
at  Felts,  when  the  old  man  ran  against  his  foot.  Then  he  says 
he  lost  sight  of  him,  and  didn't  see  anything  more  of  him,  until 
he  was  in  front  of  the  door  of  the  second  building  north  of 
him,  which  was  about  fifty  feet  away.  Meantime  Spencer 
Post  had  been  stabbed,  but  Gaylord  did  not  see  it  done,  al- 
though Felts  would  have  had  to  walk  around  him  in  order  to 
get  close  enough  to  Post,  so  that  he  might  be  able  to  inflict  the 
wound.  If  Gaylord  was  looking  at  Felts  when  he  ran  against 
his  foot,  why  should  he  not  see  him  as  he  walked  around  him 
to  commit  this  awful  deed?  The  reason  that  Gaylord  failed  to 
see  him  do  it  is,  the  thing  never  was  done  that  way.  Then  he 
tells  us  that  Post  stood  there  like  a  statue,  after  he  was 
stabbed.  That  he  never  moved  a  muscle,  and  never  spoke  a 
word  until  Felts  had  walked  some  distance  away.  That  kind 
of  evidence  is  not  worthy  of  consideration.  It  is  not  true  to 
nature.     The  whole  scene  is  unreal,  when  a  murder  is  being 


112  .  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

committed.  No  angry  words,  no  resistance  on  the  part  of 
the  deceased.  The  whole  thing  so  quiet  and  tame,  and  un- 
interesting that  Gaylord  did  not  even  know  it  was  done,  until 
the  murderer  had  leisurely  walked  away.  The  testimony  of 
Charles  Hodges  differed  from  that  of  James  Gaylord  in  that  he 
pretended  to  see  Felts  make  some  kind  of  a  motion,  after  he  ran 
against  Gaylord's  foot,  that  he  described  as  dropping  his 
.shoulder,  and  bunting  Post,  and  then  walking  on.  You  will 
observe  at  once  that  Hodges  is  the  chief  witness,  so  far  as  the 
evidence  in  this  case  is  concerned.  Gaylord  did  not  see  Felts 
assault  Post  in  any  way,  shape  or  manner.  Hodges  did  not 
see  any  knife,  but  he  thought  Felts  must  have  stabbed  Post 
when  he  bunted  into  him,  as  he  passed  by.  Charles  Hodges 
has  such  a  bad  reputation  for  truth  and  veracity,  that  it  seems 
monstrous  that  this  deaf  old  patriot,  who  was  never  known  to 
do  a  deed  of  violence,  even  to  those  who  provoked  and  worried 
him,  should  have  his  liberty  taken  from  him,  through  the  tes- 
timony of  such  a  person.  Not  long  after  the  preliminary  trial, 
he  had  a  conversation  with  a  gentleman  in  regard  to  this 
matter.  This  man  made  a  deposition  that  was  presented  to 
the  Board  of  Pardons  in  which  he  says  "  We  were  in  the  corn- 
field near  Durand,  Illinois,  and  I  asked  Hodges  how  this  thing 
was.  He  replied.  Oh  God,  we  don't  any  of  us  know  how  it  was. 
We  were  all  so  drunk,  that  we  didn't  any  of  us  know  what  hap- 
pened." Five  months  later,  Hodges  testified  in  the  regular 
trial  as  follows,  "  Why  he  just  kind  of  went  in  back,  kind  of 
around  Gaylord  and  walked,  took  a  step  sideways,  right  side, 
and  bunted  Mr.  Post  and  walked  on.  "  Now  when  did  Hodges 
tell  the  truth,  when  he  told  this  witness  a  short  time  after  the 
sad  occurrence  took  place,  that  they  were  all  so  drunk,  that 
they  didn't  any  of  them  know  what  happened,  or  five  months 
later,  when  he  sat  there  in  the  witness  chair,  and  told  the  jury 
how  it  was  done."  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  further  away, 
in  point  of  time  Hodges  gets  from  the  tragedy  the  more  he 
seems  to  know  about  it.  His  testimony  in  the  regular  trial  wa^ 
much  stronger  than  it  was  at  the  preliminary  hearing,  or  the 


of  George  W.  Felts  113 

coroner's  inquest.  All  this  witness  needs  is  time  enough,  and  • 
he  will  be  able  to  clear  up  the  whole  mystery.  The  record  shows 
that  four  reputable  persons  testified  in  the  trial,  that  they  knew 
Charles  Hodges  to  have  a  bad  reputation  for  truth  and  veracity, 
and  that  they  would  not  believe  him  under  oath.  Six  others 
testified  either  that  Hodges  had  a  bad  reputation  for  truth  and 
veracity,  or  that  his  reputation  was  not  good.  Another  wit- 
ness when  asked  in  regard  to  his  reputation,  said  that  it  was 
a  little  shaky.  Another  said  that  under  certain  conditions  it 
was  bad.  Two  of  the  persons  who  swore  that  Hodges  had  a 
good  reputation  for  truth  and  veracity,  had  already  signed  a 
statement  that  his  reputation  was  bad.  Four  of  the  witnesses 
who  testified  would  not  commit  themselves  as  to  the  good  or 
bad  reputation  of  Hodges.  Four  witnesses  who  testified  that 
Hodges  reputation  was  good,  admitted  on  cross-examination 
that  they  had  never  heard  his  reputation  for  truth  and  veracity 
discussed.  The  question  naturally  arises,  if  these  witnesses 
had  never  heard  his  reputation  for  truth  and  veracity  discussed, 
how  did  they  know  that  it  was  good?  One  witness  who  tes- 
tified that  his  reputation  was  good,  admitted  that  he  had  never 
heard  it  discussed.,  except  in  his  own  family.  Four  others  who 
testified  that  Hodges  reputation  for  truth  and  veracity  was 
all  right,  admitted  that  they  had  heard  that  he  would  lie.  As  soon 
as  the  trial  was  over,  with  the  sad  result  that  the  deaf  old  soldier 
was  sent  to  the  prison  for  life,  a  good  many  people  came  to 
us  and  said  they  did  not  suppose  that  any  one  would  believe 
this  man's  testimony,  and  expressed  regret  that  they  had  not 
told  what  they  knew  about  him,  and  some  of  them  wrote  to 
the  Board  of  Pardons  afterwards,  and  told  them  what  they 
tliought  of  Hodges'  truth  and  veracity  in  general,  and  also 
what  they  thought  of  his  testimony,  in  this  particular  case. 
Then  some  people  in  Iowa  found  out  that  the  testimony  of 
Charlie  Hodges  as  they  called  him,  had  sent  a  deaf  old  soldier 
to  the  prison  for  life,  and  they  wanted  us  to  know  that  he  had 
a  very  bad  reputation  among  the  people  who  knew  him,  where 
he  had  formerly  lived,  at  Cherokee  in  that  state.     They  told 


114  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

135  that  some  woman  had  filled  his  neck  vnxh  buck  shot,  for 
fooUn^  aromid,  where  he  had  no  business.  I  insist  upon 
it,  that  it  would  be  risky  to  send  a  deaf  man  to  the 
prisoo  for  life,  who  had  been  taken  through  his  trial,  without 
having^  any  of  the  proceedings  communicated  to  him,  while 
the  trial  was  in  progress,  even  on  the  testimony  of  a  repre- 
sentatire  citizen.  But  when  it  depends  on  the  ex-idence  of 
Charles  Hodges  to  send  a  man  to  prison,  who  has  never  been 
arrested  before,  and  who  pleads  not  guilty,  we  ought  to  be 
very  carefuL  Let  us  u?e  a  little  common  sense  in  considering 
this  case,  and  we  will  at  once  see  the  unreasonableness,  and 
antnithfafaiess  of  this  man's  ston*.  Spencer  Post  ^-as  a  very 
powerful  man.  He  ^-as  six  feet  tall,  and  weighed  two  hundred 
and  forty  pounds.  He  was  an  athlete,  and  only  fort>*-two. 
year?  of  age.  I  have  been  told  that  there  was  not  a  stronger 
man  in  Winnebago  CountA-.  George  Felts  was  old,  and  weighed 
one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  pounds,  and  was  completely  broken 
in  health,  so  that  he  had  been  unable  for  several  years,  to  do 
any  hard  work.  He  was  a  constant  sufferer  from  heart  trouble, 
and  rheumatism.  The  least  excitement,  rendered  him  almost 
helpless.  Do  jxxi  believe  that  an  infirm  old  man,  like  George 
Fehs,  if  he  were  in  his  right  mind,  would  have  dared  to  attack 
a  great  giant  tike  Post,  with  no  weapon  but  his  little  jack 
knife,  and  then  strike  him  in  the  lower  part  of  the  body  ?  He 
didn't  know  where  that  arter>-  was  located,  and  if  he  did.  he 
could  not  have  hit  it  in  the  dark,  and  if  he  had  missed  it,  he 
would  not  have  hurt  Post  very  much,  and  then  Post  would  have 
been  on  him  as  quick  as  a  cat,  and  would  have  crushed  the  life 
oat  of  him.  If  Felts  ^-anted  to  kill  Post,  why  didn't  he  get  a 
revolver,  and  blow  his  brains  out?  Or  a  big  knife,  and  then 
strike  for  his  heart  or  his  throat?  It  is  as  plain  as  can  be,  that 
Felts  never  intended  to  kill  Post.  The  State's  attorney  ha- 
finally  got  around  to  the  point  where  he  is  willing  to  admit 
this  fact.  It  has  taken  him  a  long  time  to  reach  the  conclusion. 
but  tiie  old  saving  is,  "  Better  late  than  never."  In  his  recent 
statement  to  the  Board  of  Pardons,  he  says,  *'  Perhaps   be 


of  George  W.  Felts  115 

never  intended  to  kill  Post.  1  could  readily  assent  to  that  prop- 
osition;  but  he  did  intend  to  strike  him."  If  Felts  knew  who 
I'ost  was,  he  would  not  have  dared  to  attack  him,  in  the  manner 
that  Hodges  would  have  us  believe  he  did,  and  if  he  did  not 
know  who  he  was,  why  should  he  attack  him  at  all?  If  we  ac- 
cept the  story  of  Gaylord  and  Hodges  as  true,  then  we  place 
ourselves  in  the  predicament  of  charging  a  great  crime  on  a 
man,  who  had  no  motive  whatever,  so  far  as  we  can  find  out 
in  committing  it.  Post  and  Felts  had  always  been  on  the 
friendliest  terms  with  each  other,  and  were  right  up  to  the 
time  that  Post  lost  his  life.  In  his  opening  statement,  at  the 
l>eginning  of  the  trial,  the  State's  attorney  said  that  he  would 
prove  by  William  Rupnow,  that  there  had  been  trouble  between 
the  two  men,  a  short  time  before  the  sad  occurrence  that  night, 
when  Post  lost  his  life,  and  he  declared  that  this  was  the  motive 
for  the  crime  charged  in  the  indictment.  At  the  proper  time 
he  placed  Mr.  Rupnow  on  the  witness  stand,  and  to  my  great 
^ur])rise,  he  testified  that  he  had  never  known  of  any  trouble 
iKTtween  these  two  men,  but  on  the  contran,-,  so  far  as  he  knew, 
thev  had  always  l>een  the  best  of  friends.  And  so  the  motive 
for  this  so  called  nmrder  was  gone.  Everybody  knows,  that 
without  a  motive  there  can  l)e  no  murder.  The  State's  attorney 
knew  this,  and  so  like  the  proverbial  drowning  man  at  sea,  he 
l)egan  "  grabbing  for  straws."  His  theory-  seemed  to  be.  that 
anything  would  l)eat  nothing,  and  so  during  the  course  of  the 
trial,  one  of  the  witnesses,  in  telling  of  a  conversation  that  took 
place  l>etween  I-elts  and  Gaylord  through  the  eartube.  as  the 
(leaf  old  soldier  was  on  his  way  home,  nearly  an  hour  before 
the  tragedy,  happened  to  remark  that  Post  interfered  with 
their  talk  by  taking  the  eartube  in  his  own  hand,  and  playfully 
saying,  "  I  want  to  talk  to  you  George."  Felts  replied.  "  No  I 
want  to  talk  business  with  Jim."  Post  in  a  sportive  good 
natured  wav  insisted  on  joining  in  the  conversation  through 
the  eartube.  and  P'elts  said  to  him.  "  Xo  you  are  drinkin;^ 
Spencer.  I'll  talk  with  you  in  the  morning."  According  to  the 
witness  in  question,  all  joined  in  the  laugh  but  Felts,  and  no 


116  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

doubt  he  would  have  joined  in  it  too,  if  he  had  not  been  so  deaf 
that  he  could  not  understand  all  that  was  said,  and  conse- 
quently could  see  nothing  particular  to  laugh  about.  This 
witness  went  on  to  say,  that  Felts  got  mad  and  went  home, 
when  he  found  he  could  not  talk  with  Gaylord  alone.  He  has 
since  explained  that  he  never  meant  that  he  was  violently  mad, 
or  anything  of  that  kind,  but  rather  that  he  got  out  of  patience, 
as  we  would  call  it,  just  as  he  had  been  many  a  time  before  on 
the  streets  of  Durand,  when  his  friends  had  teased  him  about 
one  thing  or  another,  because  he  was  deaf.  The  matter  was 
of  such  small  moment  that  James  Gaylord,  the  man  with  whom 
Felts  was  talking,  when  Post  took  the  eartube  away  from 
them,  had  forgotten  all  about  it  at  the  time  of  the  trial.  And 
Felts  said  that  he  meant  exactly  what  he  said.  He  knew  that 
Post  had  been  drinking,  and  that  it  would  be  better  for  him 
to  see  him,  and  talk  with  him  the  next  morning,  and  so  he  went 
down  home  never  dreaming  that  anything  further  would  ever 
come  of  this  trifling  little  incident.  It  might  be  well  to  men- 
tion in  this  connection,  that  while  there  were  several  persons 
present  at  the  time  that  Post  and  Felts  had  this  last  interview, 
only  a  short  time  before  Post  was  killed,  not  one  of  them  ex- 
cept the  witness  already  referred  to,  ever  intimated  that  Felts 
was  even  out  of  humor,  when  he  left  them  to  go  on  down  to 
his  house.  But  here  is  an  opportunity  for  the  State's  attorney 
to  manufacture  a  motive,  and  if  he  can  get  the  people  to  be- 
Heve  it,  he  will  be  able  to  fasten  the  crime  of  murder  upon  this 
innocent  old  deaf  man.  He  draws  on  his  imagination,  and 
works  up  a  great  case.  But  the  trouble  with  his  theory  is,  that 
he  does  not  have  one  word  of  evidence  to  back  up  what  he 
says.  He  told  the  jury  that  Felts  went  down  home,  and  sat  on 
his  porch,  and  thought  the  whole  matter  over,  how  Post  had 
abused  him,  in  not  allowing  him  to  talk  freely,  and  unmolested, 
with  Gaylord,  and  that  as  he  revolved  it  over  and  over  in  his 
mind,  he  got  madder  and  madder,  until  finally  he  became  so 
enraged  over  the  afifair  that  he  could  not  stand  it  any  longer, 
and  so  he  went  back  up  town  and  plunged  his  knife  into  Post.    If 


of  George  W.  Felts  117 

all  this  were  true,  why  did  he  go  armed  with  nothing  but  a 
little  pocket  knife?  Why  did  he  strike  him  in  the  lower  part 
of  the  body?  Why  didn't  he  strike  him  more  than  once?  Why 
did  he  go  up  immediately  and  report  to  the  town  marshal,  that 
some  fellows  down  on  the  corner  had  intercepted  him,  and 
would  not  let  him  pass  ?  Is  that  the  way  a  murderer  does,  when 
he  commits  a  crime  in  the  presence  of  witnesses  ?  We  all  know 
that  it  is  not.  If  George  Felts  had  killed  Spencer  Post  as 
Charles  Hodges,  and  the  State's  attorney  would  have  us  be- 
lieve he  did,  he  would  have  given  the  City  Marshal  and  all 
the  rest  of  the  officers  as  wide  a  berth  as  possible.  Felts  him- 
self is  the  only  witness,  who  had  anything  to  say  in  regard  to 
his  actions  that  night,  after  he  left  the  men  on  the  corner  and 
started  for  his  home.  He  says  he  went  down  and  sat  on  hi:; 
porch  awhile,  and  then  went  to  the  Opera  House  a  few  mo- 
ments where  a  dance  was  in  progress,  and  then  returned  to 
his  porch  again,  and  sat  there  awhile  longer,  until  he  savv' 
some  men  on  a  cross-walk  up  town,  between  him  and  a  pop- 
corn light  in  the  north  end  of  the  village.  He  had  been  look- 
ing around  all  the  evening  for  three  men  who  had  promised 
to  haul  wood  for  him  the  next  day,  but  up  to  this  time  he 
had  not  been  able  to  find  but  one  of  them,  and  it  occurred  to 
him  that  these  men  on  the  cross-walk  up  town,  might  be  the 
men  in  question.  So  he  started  up  town  to  see  who  they  were, 
and  on  his  way,  got  into  the  trouble  that  resulted  in  his  being 
sent  to  prison  for  life.  This  is  Felt's  version  of  it  in  brief, 
as  he  told  it  on  the  witness  stand.  But  no,  says  the  State's  at- 
torney, he  went  up  town  to  kill  Post.  I  mean  that  is  what  he 
said  at  the  time  of  the  trial.  He  has  modified  his  opinion  now, 
until  as  I  have  already  said,  that  in  his  statement  to  the  Board 
of  Pardons,  he  says  "  Perhaps  he  never  intended  to  kill  Post. 
I  could  readily  assent  to  that  proposition,  but  he  certainly  did 
intend  to  strike  him."  Give  him  time  enough,  and  he  will 
finally  come  around  and  see  the  whole  situation  as  it  appears  to 
nearly  every  thoughtful  man  and  woman  who  has  investigated 
it,  a  sad  accident,  very  much  to  be  regretted  by  everybody. 


118  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

brought  on  by  a  misapprehension  of  the  situation,  on  account 
of  the  old  man's  deafness,  and  his  inability  to  see  because  of 
his  defective  sight,  and  the  darkness  of  the  night,  there  being 
no  moon,  and  no  lights  on  the  streets,  so  he  could  not  possibly 
know  who  his  assailants  were,  and  consequently  mistook  their 
rought  sport,  for  a  serious  hold-up,  and  tried  to  defend  himself 
accordingly,  with  the  result  that  one  of  his  best  friends  acci- 
dentally got  killed.  Why  should  Felts  suppose  that  Post  was 
still  in  front  of  the  Davis  saloon  when  he  started  up  town  ?  It 
had  been  nearly  an  hour  since  he  left  him  up  there,  and  went 
to  his  own  home.  The  lights  in  the  saloon  liad  i)cen  put  out, 
and  it  was  drawing  near  the  hour  of  midnight,  and  he  would 
naturally  suppose,  if  he  thought  anything  about  it  at  all,  that 
Post  had  gone  home,  or  at  least  removed  from  that  place.  I 
have  studied  the  court  record  over,  again  and  again,  with  the 
view  of  finding  the  motive  for  this  so  called  murder  if  there 
was  any  and  I  was  present  and  heard  every  word  of  the  trial, 
and  the  only  place  that  I  found  any  motive  for  the  crime 
charged  in  the  indictment,  was  in  the  imagination  of  the 
State's  attorney,  as  set  forth  in.  his  closing  speech,  before  the 
jury.  The  whole  thing  was  a  fabrication.  There  was  no  evi- 
dence to  warrant  it.  The  idea  of  dragging  in  a  motive,  where 
nothing  of  the  kind  appeared  in  the  evidence,  is  contrary  to 
law,  and  is  in  opposition  to  the  established  court  practice  of 
every  civilized  nation  under  the  sun.  Judge  Frost  in  his 
statement  to  the  Board  of  Pardons  says,  **  There  was  no 
apparent  motive  for  the  commission  of  so  great  a  crime." 
If  no  motive  was  apparent,  we  have  no  right  to  con- 
clude that  there  was  any  motive.  And  if  there  was 
no  motive,  then  there  was  no  murder.  And  if  there  was 
no  murder,  I  would  like  to  know  why  this  deaf  old 
soldier  was  charged  with  it,  and  accused  of  it  by  the  State's 
attorney,  and  slandered  by  him  in  his  closing  speech.  It  was 
all  the  worse  too,  when  it  is  understood  that  he  was  not  only 
so  deaf  that  he  could  not  hear  one  word  that  this  arrogant 
young  attorney  said  against  him,  but  he  had  not  heard  one 


of  George  W.  Felts  119 

word  of  all  that  the  witnesses  testified  against  him  during 
ihe  trial.  And  the  State's  atorney  considers  that  he  won  a 
great  triumph,  when  he  succeeded  in  fastening  the  crime  of 
murder,  on  this  deaf  old  soldier,  and  he  seems  to  think  that 
he  is  still  adding  laurels  to  his  crown,  by  trying  to  keep  this 
helpless  old  man  in  the  prison,  against  the  wishes,  and  the 
honest  efforts  of  thousands  of  as  loyal  and  patriotic  people 
as  there  are  in  Winnebago  County  or  anywhere  else.  "  Truth 
crushed  to  earth,  shall  rise  again."  When  the  facts  in  this 
case  are  fully  brought  out,  and  are  understood  by  the  people, 
George  I'elts  \yill  not  be  thought  of,  or  spoken  of  as  a 
murderer,  but  as  the  victim  of  unfortunate  circumstances,  and 
fair  minded  per)ple  everywhere  will  be  sorry  for  him,  and  the 
glory  that  the  State's  attorney  got  out  of  the  imprisonment 
of  this  deaf  old  soldier,  who  was  taken  through  his  trial  with- 
out having  any  of  the  proceedings  communicated  to  him  as  the 
trial  progressed,  will  have  passed  away.  I  have  very  brieHy 
called  your  attention  to  the  story  of  Gaylord  and  Hodges,  and 
l>oiTite<l  out  the  unreasonableness  of  it.  I  will  now  direct  your 
attention  to  the  story  of  George  Felts,  concerning  this  sad 
affair,  and  believe  if  you  will  examine  it  carefully,  as  I  have 
done,  that  you  will  agree  with  me,  that  it  is  altogether  reason- 
able, and  if  it  is,  then  this  old  man  is  suffering  an  unjust  pen- 
alty. Felts  says  he  went  up  town  on  a  legitimate  errand,  near 
the  hour  of  midnight,  August  6th  1904.  and  that  as  he  passed 
the  Davis  salo'jn  corner,  he  was  intercepted  by  some  men,  who. 
no  doubt  intended  to  have  fun  at  his  expense.  He  says  it  was 
so  dark,  that  he  did  not  know  who  any  of  them  were.  And 
as  there  was  no  moon  that  night,  and  no  lights  in  the  streets, 
and  the  old  man's  eyes  are  defective,  we  can  readily  believe 
his  statement.  Everybody  who  is  acquainted  with  him,  knows 
that  he  is  so  deaf,  that  he  could  not  hear  anything  these  men 
might  have  been  saying.  He  says  as  he  stepped  on  the  side- 
walk, in  front  of  the  Davis  saloon,  he  ran  against  someone. 
This  was  probably  Charles  Hodges,  but  if  it  was,  he  was  not 
sitting  down  in  a  chair,  doing  nothing,  as  he  would  have  u\- 


120  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

believe,  but  was  standing  up  squarely  in  the  old  man's  way. 
He  says  he  went  a  little  further,  and  ran  against  somebody's 
foot.  Gaylord  says  that  was  his  foot.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
is  true.  Neither  do  I  doubt  that  Gaylord  had  his  foot  stuck 
out  there,  to  trip  the  old  man  up  as  he  came  along.  Felts  says 
that  when  he  ran  against  that  foot,  instead  of  going  around 
it,  and  taking  a  step  to  the  east  toward  Post,  he  angled  oflF 
toward  the  northwest,  and  that  he  had  gone  only  a  short  dis- 
tance, when  some  one  grabbed  him  by  the  back  of  the 
neck,  and  suddenly  bent  him  forward,  almost  double.  He 
says  that  he  tried  to  get  loose,  but  that  his  assailant  was  so 
big,  and  strong,  that  he  could  not  do  it.  He  says  the  man  shoved 
his  thumb  and  fingers  right  down  into  the  chords  and  muscles 
of  his  neck,  until  he  thought  sure  he  would  break  his  neck.  He 
says  that  just  then  another  man  came  up  to  his  back,  and  he 
became  very  much  frightened,  and  thought  it  was  a  regular 
hold-up.  He  took  his  knife  and  tried  to  reach  the  man's  hand 
where  he  was  griping  his  neck,  but  owing  to  the  position,  in 
which  the  man  held  him,  he  could  not  reach  his  hand.  Then 
he  tried  to  prick  his  leg,  to  make  him  let  go  of  his  neck.  He 
says,  when  he  struck  at  his  assailant's  leg,  he  had  no  idea  who 
the  man  was,  and  that  he  had  no  thought  of  killing  him.  He 
says  that  he  held  the  blade  of  the  knife,  between  his  thumb 
and  finger,  about  an  inch  from  the  point,  when  he  struck  at 
the  man's  leg,  and  that  he  felt  no  resistance,  and  did  not  know 
that  he  touched  his  assailant,  and  that  he  don't  believe  he  did. 
All  this  talk  about  his  admitting  to  the  officers,  and  others,  that 
he  had  stabbed  Post,  was  after  the  officers  had  told  him  that 
Post  was  cut,  and  that  he  said  Felts  did  it.  He  knew  that  some 
one  was  on  him  in  the  dark,  but  he  did  not  know  who  he  was, 
until  the  officers  came  to  arrest  him,  and  told  him.  He  has 
always  said  if  he  had  known  it  was  Post,  who  had  him  by  the 
neck,  he  would  not  have  been  frightened  so  badly,  and  tried 
so  hard  to  get  loose,  that  he  almost  broke  his  neck.  Every- 
body knows  that  a  deaf  person  is  much  more  easily  frightened, 
than  one  who  can  hear.     Felts  could  neither  see  nor  hear,  a> 


of  George  W.  Felts  121 

he  struggled  with  the  man  there  in  the  dark.  He  was  non- 
sane,  so  far  as  these  two  great  senses  were  concerned,  and 
should  be  treated  accordingly.  No  man  can  t>e  held  respon- 
sible beyond  his  capacity  to  know,  at  the  time  that  he  com- 
mits an  act.  I  am  afraid  that  this  self-evident  principle,  has 
been  overlooked,  at  least  in  a  measure,  in  considering  this 
case.  Felts  goes  on  to  say,  that  just  as  he  struck  back  at  the 
man's  leg  with  his  knife,  the  man  came  under  him  with  his 
knee,  and  gave  him  a  shove  forward,  that  caused  him  to  run 
about  \tn  feet  before  he  could  stop.  My  own  opinion  has 
always  been,  that  the  man  rammed  the  knife  himself,  when  he 
gave  I'clts  that  shove.  Felts  says,  as  soon  as  he  could  stop, 
after  he  received  this  shove,  he  turned  around,  and  in  the  dark- 
neS"^,  he  could  see  two  men  struggling  with  each  other,  but 
that  he  did  not  know  what  they  were  doing,  and  he  did  not 
know  that  anyone  had  been  hurt  but  himself.  This  may  have 
been  Gaylord  or  Hodges  trying  to  get  Post  away,  after  he  had 
received  the  knife  thrust. 

In  considering  the  story  thai  ucor^^^o  i  cits  tells  us,  in  re- 
gard to  the  circumstances  that  surrounded  the  death  of  Spencer 
Post,  it  sliouKl  be  borne  in  mind,  that  he  has  always  had  the 
reputation  of  being  a  truthful  man.  A  great  many  have  writ- 
ten letters  to  the  Board  of  Pardons,  in  regard  to  this  matter. 
One  of  them  who  has  lived  in  Durand  all  his  life  until  recently, 
but  now  lives  in  Rockford,  in  speaking  of  him  says,  "  I  have 
known  George  Felts,  ever  since  his  boyhood,  and  know  that 
he  was  a  peaceable,  law-abiding  citizen,  and  an  industrious, 
honest,  and  truthful  man."  Another  one  says,  "  I  have  known 
George  Felts  ever  since  w-e  were  boys  together,  and  I  know  him 
to  be  a  truthful  man."  Another  one  says,  "  I  have  known 
George  Felts  for  twenty-five  years,  and  I  have  always  found 
him  to  be  a  truthful  man."  Another  one  who  was  until  re- 
cently a  resident  of  Durand,  but  now  of  Rockford,  says,  "  I 
have  been  acquainted  with  George  Felts  for  thirty-five 
vears.  He  was  well  known  to  be  an  honest  man,  and  truthful 
in  all  his  dealings,    I  believe  his  statement  that  some  one  had 


122  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

him  by  the  neck  in  the  dark."  Another  leading  citizen  of 
Rockford  says,  "  I  have  been  personally  acquainted  with 
George  W.  Felts,  since  1862,  and  I  know  him  to  be  a  truthful 
man,  and  believe  his  statement."  A  great  many  such  letters 
have  been  submitted  to  the  Board  of  Pardons,  showing  con- 
clusively, that  George  Felts  has  a  good  reputation  for  truth 
and  veracity,  among  those  who  know  him.  His  reputation 
among  the  business  men  of  Rockford,  where  he  purchased  his 
blacksmithing  materials,  was  all  right,  for  he  always  kept  his 
word.  The  store  keepers  of  Durand  were  always  ready  to 
trust  him.  The  very  night  that  this  trouble  occurred,  this  same 
miserable  Hodges  went  to  him  with  a  poor  mouth,  and  the  old 
man  took  pity  on  him,  and  allowed  him  to  purchase  fifty  cents 
worth  of  groceries,  and  charge  the  bill  to  his  account,  and 
Felts  paid  it  after  he  was  sent  to  jail,  on  the  false  swearing  of 
the  very  man  whom  he  had  accommodated.  George  Felts  is  .1 
truthful  man.  I  have  gone  over  the  details  of  the  trial  with 
him  carefully,  many  times,  since  he  has  been  in  prison,  and 
believe  that  he  tells  the  truth  about  what  happened  the  night 
of  the  trouble.  When  we  take  into  consideration,  not  only 
that  Felts  is  a  truthful  man,  but  that  his  neck  was  marked 
and  bruised  and  swollen,  when  he  entered  the  jail,  his  story  at 
once,  becomes  altogether  reasonable,  and  I  don't  see  how  any 
intelligent,  unprejudiced  person,  can  doubt  for  one  moment 
the  truthfulness  of  what  he  says.  Some  one  made  those  marks 
on  his  neck.  Some  one  bruised  his  neck.  The  injury  was  too 
severe  for  him  to  have  done  it  himself,  and  besides,  some  one 
was  with  him  all  the  time  after  he  was  arrested.  Charles  Wil- 
liams says,  in  his  deposition  to  the  Board  of  Pardons,  that  he 
examined  his  neck  carefully,  soon  after  he  entered  the  jail, 
and  that  there  were  finger  nail  marks  on  it.  deep  enough  to 
draw  blood,  and  that  these  marks  remained  there  for  about  a 
week  and  a  half.  And  that  his  neck  was  swollen  for  about 
a  month.  On  direct  examination,  he  was  asked,  "  Did  you 
notice  the  condition  of  his  neck,  soon  after  he  was  placed  in 
the  jail?"    Ans.  "Yes  sir."    Then  he  was  asked  "    What  was 


of  George  W.  Felts  123 

that  condition?"  Ans.  "His  neck  was  swollen,  bruised,  and 
inflamed."  The  following  question  was  then  asked  him.  "  Did 
you  notice  any  mark  on  his  neck?"  Ans.  "  Yes  sir."  On  cross- 
examination  he  was  asked,  "  Did  you  examine  closely  the  neck 
of  Felts?"  Ans.  "  Yes  sir."  Next  he  was  asked,  "  How  badly 
was  it  swollen?"  Ans.  ''Well  it  was  swollen  pretty  bad." 
Then  he  was  asked  this  question.  ''  You  say  it  looked  as  if 
some  one  had  attacked  him  with  their  hands?"  Ans.  "  Yes  sir." 
Then  he  was  asked  **  What  gave  you  that  impression  ?"  Ans. 
"  The  looks  of  the  marks  on  his  neck."  He  was  then  asked 
"  What  were  those  marks  ?"  Ans.  "  They  were  finger  nail 
marks."  Next  he  was  asked,  "  Did  the  finger  nails  cut  through 
the,  skin  and  if  so  how  deep?"  Ans.*'  Yes  sir,  deep  enough 
to  draw  blood."  He  was  then  asked,  "  How  long  did  those 
marks  remain  there  ?"  Ans.  "  About  a  week  and  a  half." 
Then  he  was  asked,  "  How  long  did  the  neck  remain  swollen?" 
Ans.  "  The  neck  was  swollen  for  about  a  month."  Charlie 
Williams  saw  Felts  when  he  was  first  put  in  the  jail,  and  Felts 
had  not  been  alone  up  to  that  time  since  his  arrest.  Ma- 
tilda Fletcher  Wiseman  in  her  deposition  corroborates  the  testi- 
mony of  Charles  Williams  in  every  particular,  in  regard  to  the 
condition  of  George  Felts'  neck.  She  saw  her  brother  the 
morning  of  the  third  day,  after  he  was  placed  in  the  jail  and  five 
or  six  times  within  the  next  week.  She  says  there  were  marks 
and  bruises  on  his  neck,  and  that  it  was  swollen,  and  looked  red 
and  inflamed.  George  Snow  testified  in  his  deposition,  that  he 
saw  Felts  as  soon  as  he  entered  the  jail,  and  that  he  held  his  head 
and  neck  in  a  stiff  position,  and  that  he  complained  "  quite  a  bit 
about  it,"  and  said  it  was  sore.  Aaron  Sarver  says,  "  I  visited 
George  W.  Felts,  the  third  day  after  he  was  placed  in  the  jail 
at  Rockford,  Illinois,  charged  with  the  killing  of  Spencer  Post. 
I  have  known  him  intimately  for  a  great  many  years,  and 
worked  in  the  same  shop  with  him  part  of  the  time.  As  soon 
as  I  saw  him  in  jail,  I  saw  that  he  held  his  head  and  neck  in  a 
stiff  and  unnatural  position.  He  could  not  turn  his  neck  with- 
out turning  his  whole  body.  I  talked  with  him  through  his 
eartubc,  and  asked  him  what  was  the  trouble  with  his  neck. 


224  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

and  he  told  me  that  they  hurt  him,  at  the  time  that  Spencer 
Post  is  supposed  to  have  been  cut,  on  the  streets  of  Durand. 
He  told  me  they  nearly  broke  his  neck.  I  know  him  to  be  a 
truthful  man,  and  I  beheve  his  statement.  I  am  satisfied  that 
he  had  been  treated  in  a  ver>-  rough  way  by  some  ope." 

Mrs.  Florence  Sar\  er  says,  "  I  saw  George  W.  Felts  a  few 
da>-s  after  he  was  placed  in  the  Count>-  jail,  at  Rockford  Illi- 
nois, to  await  his  trial  for  the  kilUng  of  Spencer  Post.  He 
seemed  to  be  suflFering  from  a  sprained  neck.  My  husband 
asked  him  what  was  the  matter  with  his  neck  and  he  toKl  him 
that  they  hurt  it,  the  night  of  the  trouble  already  referred  to. 
There  was  something  the  matter  w  ith  him.  He  held  his  head 
and  neck  in  a  different  manner  from  what  I  liad  ever  seen 
him  before,  and  I  have  known  him  all  my  life.  I  never  knew 
him  to  have  rheumatism  in  his  neck.  He  suffered  with  it  ? 
great  deal  in  his  hands  and  lower  limbs.  I  know  him  to  bo 
a  truthful  man,  and  believe  his  statemerv  ^'^^^  -^me  one  ^ii' 
him  by  the  neck  in  the  dark." 

•*  E\-a  Williams  says,  I  saw  George  W.  Felts  the  second  or 
third  day  after  he  was  placed  in  the  County  jail  at  Rockford 
Illinois,  August,  1904.  He  appeared  to  be  suffering  from  a 
sprained  neck.  He  held  his  head  and  neck  in  a  stiff  and  un- 
natural position.  My  brother  told  me  that  he  had  e.xamined 
the  neck  of  the  said  George  \V.  Felts,  and  that  there  were 
marks  and  bruises  on  it,  and  ever)-  indication  that  he  had  been 
assaulted  as  he  claimed.  I  did  not  talk  with  Mr.  Felts  as  he  i- 
deaf,  and  I  was  not  accustomed  to  talking  through  an  eartube. 
My  brother  talked  with  him  freely,  and  from  his  appearance, 
I  believe  his  stor}-,  that  he  had  been  roughly  handled  by  some 
one,  as  he  said  on  the  witness  stand."  Henr\'  Ho\ve  says,  "  I 
called  in  company  with  Mr.  E.  R.  Rowley,  on  George  W. 
Felts,  the  next  morning  after  the  said  George  W.  Felts  was 
placed  in  the  County  jail,  at  Rockford  Illinois,  charged  with 
the  killing  of  Spencer  Post.  I  talked  with  him  through  his 
eartube  in  the  presence  of  the  sheriff  and  Mr.  Rowley.  We 
talked  as  old  acquaintances,  and  nothing  was  said  in  regard  to 


of  George  W.  Felts  125 

the  trouble  that  had  brought  him  there.  I  noticed  that  he 
held  his  head  and  neck,  in  what  appeared  to  me,  an  unnatural 
position.  I  afterwards  remarked  to  others,  in  regard  to  his 
appearance,  at  that  time.  I  knew  nothing  about  the  circum- 
stances surrounding  the  death  of  Spencer  Post,  and  therefore 
did  not  say  anything  to  him  in  regard  to  the  way  he  held  his 
head." 

"  James  Williams  says^  *'  I  have  known  George  W.  Felts 
for  the  last  twenty-five  years.  I  saw  him  the  next  morning 
after  he  was  placed  in  the  county  jail  at  Rockford  Illinois, 
charged  with  the  killing  of  Spencer  Post.  I  also  saw  him 
nearly  every  day  for  weeks  thereafter.  He  held  his  head  and 
neck,  in  a  stiff  and  unnatural  position,  different  from  what 
I  ever  saw  him  before.  There  was  every  indication  that  his 
neck  was  injured  in  some  way.  After  hearing  his  statement, 
that  some  one  had  him  by  the  neck  in  the  dark,  at  the  time 
that  Spencer  Post  is  supposed  to  have  been  killed,  I  was  satis - 
tied  from  wjiat  I  had  seen,  that  his  story  is  true."  E.  R.  Row- 
ley says,  **  The  next  day  after  George  W.  Felts  was  placed  in 
the  County  jail,  at  Rockford  Illinois,  I  called  on  him  in  com- 
pany with  Mr.  Henry  Howe.  I  noticed  that  the  said  George 
\V.  Felts  held  his  head  and  neck  in  a  stiff  and  unnatural  posi- 
tion. At  the  time  I  did  not  know  the  cause  of  it,  but  after 
hearing  of  the  scuffle  at  Durand,  at  the  time  of  the  killing  of 
Spencer  Post,  I  could  easily  account  for  it.  as  it  appeared  to 
me  he  had  been  very  roughly  handled." 

Mrs.  A.  Williams  says,  **  I  saw  George  W.  Felts  the  next 
morning  after  he  was  placed  in  the  county  jail,  at  Rockford 
Illinois,  August  7th  A.  D.  1904.  I  also  saw  him  nearly  every 
day  for  several  weeks  following.  I  noticed  from  the  first  time 
I  saw  him,  that  he  appeared  to  be  suffering  from  a  sprained 
neck.  He  held  his  head  and  neck  in  a  stiff  and  unnatural  posi- 
tion, and  looked  as  though  he  had  been  roughly  handled  ir- 
some  way.  I  believe  from  his  appearance  that  some  one  had 
liim  by  the  neck,  as  he  says,  the  night  that  Spencer  Post  was 
killed." 


126  ,  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

Mrs.  Hattie  Collins  says,  "  I  have  known  George  W.  Felts 
all  my  life.  I  visited  him  the  second  or  third  day  after  he 
was  placed  in  the  County  jail,  at  Rockford  Illinois,  in  August 
1904.  He  held  his  head  and  neck  in  a  stiff  and  unnatural  posi- 
tion, different  from  what  I  had  ever  seen  him  before.  He 
seemed  to  be  suffering  from  a  sprained  neck.  I  asked  him  how 
he  felt,  and  he  replied,  that  the  back  of  lijs  head  hurt  him  very 
bad.  I  asked  him  if  he  was  guilty  pf  what  he  had  been  accused, 
and  he  answered,  they  say  I  did  it,  but  if  I  did,  I  did  not  know 
it." 

K.  K.  Welsh  says,  "  It  is  true  that  when  I  first  saw  George 
after  he  was  in  jail,  his  neck  looked  as  though  it  had  been 
bruised."  Now  I  claim  that  George  Felts'  story  is  not  only 
reasonable,  but  that  when  we  take  into  consideration  that  his 
neck  was  marked  and  bruised  and  swollen,  when  he  entered 
the  jail,  that  it  is  conclusive. 

If  the  evidence  about  the  condition  of  Felt's  neck  had  been 
given  to  the  jury,  as  he  supposed  it  had,  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  he  would  have  been  acquitted.  I  showed  a  copy  of 
this  new  evidence  that  was  submitted  to  the  Board  pf  Par- 
dons, to  one  of  the  jurors  a  short  time  a.i^o,  and  as  soon  as  he 
read  it  he  said  **  That  looks  like  self-defense."  I  .said  to  him, 
"What  would  you  have  done,  if  this  evidence  had  been  pro- 
duced in  the  regular  trial?"  And  he  answered  immediately. 
*'  I  would  have  voted  for  acquittal."  "  I  said  would  you  be 
willing  to  write  that  to  the  governor?"  He  said  "Of  course 
I  would,  I  don't  want  a  n^m  to  stay  in  prison,  unless  he  i- 
guilty."  So  he  wrote  to  the  governor  and  said,  that  if  this 
evidence  had  been  offered  in  the  regular  trial,  he  would  have 
considered  that  Felts  acted  in  self  defense,  and  would  have 
voted  for  acquittal.  So  did  several  more  of  the  jurors;  others 
of  them,  wrote  to  the  governor,  expressing  regret  that  this  evi- 
dence had  been  omitted  in  the  trial  court,  and  asked  the 
governor  to  pardon  him ;  and  so  it  is  established  beyond  the 
peradventure  of  a  doubt,  that  this  old  man  was  sent  to  the 
prison    because    he    is    deaf,  and  not    because    he    is    guilty 


of  George  W.  Felts  127 

of  the  crime  charged.  Not  being  able  to  hear  what  was  said 
in  the  trial,  he  supposed  of  course,  that  the  evidence  about  the 
condition  of  liis  neck,  went  to  the  jury,  and  never  knew  that  it 
(lid  not,  until  after  he  was  sent  to  the  prison.  When  he  did 
finally  find  it  out,  he  was  very  much  excited,  and  grieved,  and 
actually  wept  over  it.  Do  you  blame  me  for  making  a  fuss 
about  the  trial  and  imprisonment  of  this  helpless  old  man?  I 
am  not  fighting  simply  to  beat  the  State's  attorney,  but  to  show 
ihe  people  of  Winnebago  County,  and  the  people  of  the  State 
of  Illinois  that  this  old  soldier  has  been  shamefully  wronged, 
by  being  branded  and  punished  as  a  murderer,  when  he  simply 
defended  himself  against  three  men  in  the  dark,  not  knowing 
who  they  were,  and  with  no  intention  of  seriously  harming 
any  one,  and  no  one  regrets  the  death  of  Spencer  Post  more 
than  he  does,  as  they  had  always  been  on  the  friendliest  terms 
with  each  other,  and  it  will  be  a  real  sorrow  to  him  as  long 
as  he  lives,  whether  he  gets  out  of  the  prison  or  not.  The 
(juestion  very  naturally  arises  why  this  important  evidence,  that 
would  have  corroborated  l-'elts'  own  testimony,  as  he  gave  U 
on  the  witness  stand  as  they  questioned  him  through  the  ear- 
tube,  was  not  brought  forward  in  the  regular  trial.  Mis  at- 
torney, knew  about  it,  but  thought  everybody  believed  the  old 
man's  story.  So  far  as  the  writer  is  concerned,  he  did  not 
know  very  much  about  it  himself,  at  the  time  of  the  trial,  as 
he  had  been  compelled  to  give  his  time  and  thought  and  energy 
lo  ani>lher  very  important  matter  in  which  he  was  very  much 
interested.  My  youngest  son,  who  at  that  time  was  unmarried 
and  lived  at  home  with  Mrs.  Wiseman  and  myself,  was  taken 
down  with  typhoid  fever,  and  I  don't  think  any  one  ever  was 
much  lower  with  it  than  he  was,  who  survived,  and  for  three 
months  I  did  everything  I  could  for  him,  both  night  and  day. 
Right  then  was  when  the  evidence  in  this  case  should  have 
l)een  worked  up.  I  depended  on  others  to  do  this  work,  par- 
ticularly, the  prisoner's  brother  A.  M.  Felts  who  lives  at  Fort 
Dodge,  Iowa,  but  he  got  sick  at  the  wrong  time,  and  a  law 
>uit  of  his  own.  in  which  he  was  interested  to  the  amount  of 


128  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

several  thousand  dollars  came  on  and  was  tried  at  the  same 
time  in  Fort  Dodge,  Iowa,  that  his  brother  was  on  trial  in  Rock- 
ford;  he  was  therefore  unable  to  render  the  assistance  thaL 
we  had  a  right  to  expect  from  him.  It  is  due  the  attorney  for 
the  defense  that  I  should  mention  in  this  connection  that  A. 
M.  Felts  and  myself  had  promised  to  assist  in  working  up  the 
evidence,  and  our  failure  to  make  that  promise  good,  for  the 
reasons  already  stated,  accounts  for  the  fact,  that  we  now  have 
a  great  deal  more  testimony  bearing  on  this  subject,  than  wc 
could  have  produced  at  the  time  of  the  trial.  I  did  not  get  to 
Rockford  until  a  few  days  before  the  trial,  and  was  not  feeling 
well  on  account  of  loss  of  sleep,  and  exhaustion,  due  to  the 
long  illness  of  my  son,  and  the  weather  was  extremely  cold, 
and  I  had  never  had  any  experience  in  such  matters  before. 
In  addition  to  all  this  his  attorney  had  cautioned  the  ol(^  man 
not  to  talk  about  his  case  with  any  one. 

Now  with  this  defendant,  who  has  the  reputation  of  being 
a  truthful  man,  testifying  that  some  unknown  person  assaulted 
•  him  as  he  passed  the  Davis  saloon  corner  that  dreadful  night, 
and  nearly  broke  his  neck,  and  with  the  testimony  of  three  wit- 
nesses, that  his  neck  was  marked  and  bruised  and  swollen  when 
they  first  saw  him  soon  after  he  was  placed  in  the  jail,  and 
the  testimony  of  nine  others,  who  testify  that  Felts  held  his 
head  and  neck  in  a  stiff  and  unnatural  position'  and  that  he 
seemed  to  be  suffering  from  a  sprained  neck,  and  that  there 
was  every  indication  that  he  had  been  roughly  handled  in  some 
way,  I  want  my  readers  to  apply  the  law  in  this  case,  as  it  is 
set  forth  in  the  very  clear  and  able  presentation  of  the  judge  in 
his  instructions  to  the  jury,  at  the  time  of  the  trial.  I  cannot 
give  the  necessary  space  to  include  all  the  instructions,  but  will 
give  enough  so  that  you  will  be  able  to  see,  that  if  the  law  of 
self  defense  is  applied  to  the  new  evidence,  which  fully  cor- 
roborates Felts'  own  testimony,  then  this  deaf  old  man  is  not 
only  innocent  of  any  intentional  crime,  in  the  eyes  of  the  law, 
but,  for  two  years,  he  has  been  suffering  an  unjust  penalty. 


of  George  W.  Felts  129 

and  since  the  new  evidence  has  been  brought  forward,  he  is 
suffering  that  unjust  penalty  contrary  to  law. 

The  following  are  a  part  of  the  judge's  instructions  to  the 
jury  as  taken  from  the  court  record,  which  I  have  before  me. 

The  defendant  in  this  case,  is  entitled  to  every  pre- 
sumption of  innocence,  compatible  with  the  evidence  in  this 
case,  and  you  are  instructed,  that  if  it  is  possible  to  account 
for,  or  explain  the  commission  of  the  alleged  crime  upon  any 
reasonable  theory,  other  than  that  of  the  guilt  of  the  defendant, 
then  it  is  your  duty  to  so  account  for  it,  and  find  the  defendant 
not  guilty. 

The  court  instructs  you  that  one  of  the  elements  of  the 
crime  of  murder  is  malice  aforethought,  either  expressed  or 
implied,  and  in  this  case,  if  after  a  consideration  of  all  the  evi- 
dence in  the  case,  there  remains  in  your  minds  a  reasonable 
doubt,  as  to  whether  or  not  any  malice,  either  expressed  or 
implied,  was  in  the  mind  of  George  Felts,  at  the  time,  or  prior 
to  the  time,  when  Spencer  Post  was  stabbed,  then  it  will  be 
your  positive  duty  to  acquit  the  defendant  of  the  charge  of 
murder. 

Vou  are  further  instructed,  that  mere  probabilities  of  guilt, 
are  not  sufficient  to  warrant  conviction,  nor  is  it  sufficient,  that 
the  i^reater  weight  or  preponderance  of  the  evidence,  sus- 
stains  the  indictment,  nor  that  upon  the  doctrine  of  chances, 
it  is  more  probable  than  not,  that  the  defendant  is  guilty.  In 
order  to  warrant  a  conviction  of  the  defendant,  it  is  absolutely 
necessary,  that  he  must  be  proved  to  be  guilty,  so  clearly  and 
conclusively,  that  there  is  no  reasonable  theory  upon  which 
he  can  be  innocent,  and  so  clearly  and  conclusively,  that  no 
reasonable  doubt  is  left  in  your  minds,  upon  the  question  of  his 
guilt.  If,  after  taking  all  the  evidence  in  the  case  into  con- 
sideration, such  proof  is  not  made,  the  defendant  should  be 
acquitted. 

The  court  instructs  you  that  you  must  have  convincing 
proof,  of  the  guilt  of  the  defendant,  before  you  should  find 
him  guilty.     If  there  is  any  reasonable  hypothesis  or  theory, 


130  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

such  as  the  right  of  self  defense  consistent  with  the  evidence 
in  this  case,  upon  which  he  may  he  innocent,  then  yonr  (hity 
is  to  find  him  not  guilty. 

The  court  instructs  you,  that  if  you  hcheve  from  the  evi- 
dence in  this  case,  that  the  defendant  horc  no  ill  will  toward 
the  deceased,  and  that  the  defendant  and  deceased  were 
friends,  and  on  good  terms,  and  if  you  further  believe  from 
the  evidence,  that  the  defendant  had  no  motive  for  committing 
the  crime  with  which  he  is  charged,  then  in  arriving  at  your 
verdict,  you  should  take  these  facts  into  consideration,  in  con- 
nection with  all  the  other  evidence  in  the  case. 

The  court  instructs  you,  that  under  the  evidence  in  this 
case,  the  fact  that  Post  was  killed  on  the  evening  in  question, 
is  not  in  and  of  itself,  evidence  or  proof,  that  the  defendant 
h^elts  is  guilty  of  murder.  The  defendant  pleads  as  a  de- 
fense in  this  case,  that  Post  received  the  cut  while  he,  the  de- 
fendant, was  exercising  the  right  which  the  law  gives  him,  to 
defend  himself  from  an  assault  made  by  Post  upon  him.  Under 
such  circumstance,  the  fact  that  Post  was  killed,  is  not,  and 
should  not  be  considered  by  you,  as  proof  in  and  of  itself,  that 
the  defendant  is  guilty  of  murder.  You  sliould  take  into  con- 
sideration, all  of  the  evidence  in  the  case,  and  if  after  a  care- 
ful consideration  of  it,  there  remains  in  your  minds  a  reason- 
able doubt,  on  the  proposition,  as  to  whether  or  not  the  de- 
fendant Felts,  with  malice  aforethought,  either  express  or  im- 
plied, killed  the  deceased  Post,  then  you  should  acquit  him  of 
the  charge  of  murder. 

If  the  jury  believe  from  the  evidence,  that  the  defendant, 
Felts,  was  assaulted  by  the  deceased,  Post,  in  such  a  way,  as 
to  induce  in  the  defendant,  a  reasonable  and  well  grounded  be- 
lief, that  he,  the  defendant,  was  actually  in  danger  of  suffering 
bodily  harm,  then  he  was  justified  in  defending  himself, 
whether  the  danger  was  real  or  only  apparent.  Actual  or  pos- 
itive danger  is  not  indispensable  to  justify  self  defense.  The 
law  considers  that  men  when  threatened  with  danger,  are 
obliged  to  judge  from  appearances,  and  determine  therefrom, 


J 


of  George  W.  Felts  131 

as  to  the  actual  state  of  things  then  surrounding  them.  And  in 
such  cases,  if  persons  act  from  honest  convictions,  induced 
by  reasonable  evidence,  taking  all  the  circumstances  then  sur- 
rounding them  into  consideration,  they  will  not  be  held  respon- 
sible criminally,  for  a  mistake,  as  to  the  extent  of  the  actual 
danger. 

The  court  instructs  you,  that  in  considering  the  question  of 
wliether  or  not  the  kilHng  of  Post  was  justified,  on  the  ground 
of  self  defense,  you  should  take  into  consideration,  all  the 
facts  and  circumstances,  shown  in  the  evidence,  including  the 
conduct  of  the  parties  at  the  time,  and  shortly  prior  thereto; 
the  (hflfcrence  in  strength,  physical  condition,  age  and  sur- 
roundings of  the  defendant  and  the  deceased,  and  if  after  a 
consideration  of  all  the  evidence  in  the  case,  there  is,  or  remains 
in  your  minds  a  reasonable  doubt,  as  to  whether  Felts,  at  the 
time  of  the  cutting,  was  under  reasonable  apprehension,  that 
the  deceased,  Spencer  Post  intended  to  inflict  upon  him,  the 
defendant,  serious  bochly  injury,  and  that  he,  the  defendant, 
used  his  knife,  as  claimed  by  him,  in  self  defense,  and  that  in 
some  way,  while  he  was  so  defending  himself,  the  said  Post 
was  fatally  cut,  then  it  will  be  your  duty  to  acquit  the  de- 
fondant. 

The  court  instructs  you,  that  if  you  believe  from  the  evi- 
dence, that  at  the  time  the  defendant,  Felts,  is  alle.2:ed  to  have 
sial)bed  the  deceased  Spencer  Post,  the  circumstances  then  sur- 
rounding the  defendant,  were  such  as  in  sound  reason,  would 
justify,  or  induce  in  his  mind  honest  belief,  that  he  was  in 
danger  of  receiving  from  the  deceased,  some  serious  or  great 
luvlily  harm  or  injury,  and  that  the  defendant  in  doing  what 
he  tlicn  did,  was  acting  from  the  instinct  of  self  defense  or 
preservation,  then  he  is  not  guilty,  although  there  may  in  fact, 
hrive  been  no  real  or  actual  danger. 

The  court  further  instructs  you,  that  the  defendant, 
Cjeorge  Felts,  at  tlie  time  in  question,  had  an  absolute  and  un- 
conditional right,  to  be  upon,  and  go  along  the  sidewalk,  in 
front  of  the  Davis  saloon,  without  being  assaulted.     And  if 


132  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

you  believe  from  all  the  evidence  in  this  case,  that  while  he 
was  passing  along  said  sidewalk,  in  front  of  said  saloon,  in 
pursuit  of  his  own  affairs,  he  was  suddenly,  and  without  notice 
to  him,  assaulted  by  the  deceased,  in  such  a  way,  as  to  induce 
in  him,  tl-ue  defendant,  a  reasonable  and  honest  belief,  that  he 
was  in  danger  of  suffering  great  or  serious  bodily  harm,  then, 
while  acting  under  the  influence  of  such  belief,  or  apprehension, 
he  was  justified  in  repelling  force  by  force,  and  in  defending 
himself  in  such  a  manner,  as  he  honestly  believed  was  neces- 
sary, under  all  the  circumstances,  then  surrounding  him,  as 
shown  by  the  evidence,  and  that  this  is  true,  whether  the 
danger  was  real,  or  only  apparent.  If  you  believe  from  the 
evidence,  that  the  deceased  Post  was  killed  under  such  circum- 
stances, then  the  defendant  Felts  is  not  guilty  of  murder,  and 
you  should  so  find  by  your  verdict. 

The  court  further  instructs  you,  that  if  ycni  believe  from 
the  evidence  that  Post  assaulted  the  defendant  Felts,  as  claimed 
by  Felts  in  his  testimony,  and  that  such  assault  was  made  in 
such  a  way,  as  to  induce  in  Felts  a  reasonable,  and  well 
grounded  belief,  that  he  was  in  imminent  danger,  of  suffering 
great  bodily  harm,  from  such  assault,  and  that  while  acting 
under  such  belief.  Post  was  unintentionally,  or  accidentally 
killed  by  him,  then  you  are  further  instructed,  that  even 
though  the  defendant  did  not  believe  that  it  was  necessary  to 
kill  Post,  in  the  exercise  of  defense  of  himself,  but  did  believe 
that  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  use  his  knife,  as  he  did  use 
it,  to  repel,  or  ward  off  the  assault,  then  under  such  circum- 
stances, the  killing  was  justifiable  or  excusable,  and  you 
should  acquit  the  defendant,  both  of  murder  and  manslaughter. 

You  are  further  instructed,  that  if  you  believe  Trom  the 
evidence  in  this  case,  that  there  is  a  reasonable  doubt,  as  to 
whether  Felts,  the  defendant,  at  the  time  of  the  stabbing,  was 
under  reasonable  apprehensions,  that  Spencer  Post  intended 
to  inflict  upon  him.  Felts,  serious  bodily  injury,  and  that  he, 
Felts,  did  the  stabbing  in  self  defense,  then  the  law  is,  you 
must  acquit  the  defendant. 


of  George  W.  Felts  133 

After  the  trial  went  against  our  brother  we  thought  of 
course  we  could  get  a  new  trial,  because  the  evidence  about 
the  condition  of  his  neck,  had  not  been  presented  to  the  jury, 
but  when  we  talked  to  his  attorney  about  it,  he  told  us  that  wo 
could  not  do  it,  because  we  knew  about  it  when  the  trial  was 
going  on,  and  so  this  all  important  evidence  has  never  been 
considered  by  any  court.  The  statement  of  Post  before  he 
died,  that  Felts  did  it,  does  not  in  any  sense,  fasten  the  crime 
of  murder  on  this  deaf  old  man.  He  does  not  say  that  he  was 
standing  leaning  up  against  the  saloon  building  as  Felts  passed 
by,  and  that  this  old  man  without  any  provocation  plunged  his 
knife  into  him.  Xor  does  he  say,  that  he  did  not  have  Felts  by 
the  neck  in  the  dark,  intending  to  have  a  lot  of  fun  with  him, 
at  the  time  that  he  received  the  fatal  wound.  It  is  worthy  of 
great  c<Misideration,  that  no  word  of  condemnation  fell  from  the 
lips  of  this  dying  man.  If  Post  had  come  to  his  death,  in  the 
way  that  Gaylord  and  Hodges  would  have  us  believe  he  did. 
I  lie  natural  thing  would  have  been  for  him  to  defend  himself 
both  by  word  and  act.  If  he  could  have  gotten  hold  of  Felts, 
and  was  able  to  do  so,  he  would  have  punished  him  severely 
for  making  such  a  cruel  and  unheard  of  assault  upon  him.  But 
if  he  was  not  able  to  intlict  bodily  punishment  upon  him,  he 
certainly  would  have  bitterly  denounced  him,  and  said  harsh 
things  against  him  for  his  inhuman  treatment.  Instead  of  this 
we  are  asked  to  believe  that  Post  stood  there  like  a  statue,  after 
he  was  wounded,  and  never  even  attempted  to  defend  himself 
in  any  way,  against  the  attack  made  on  him  by  his  assailant. 

And  that  he  never  uttered  one  word  of  Condemnation 
against  the  man  who  had  maliciously  taken  his  life,  without  a 
cause.  This  is  a  free  country  and  if  a  person  wants  to  believe 
anything  of  the  kind,  I  don't  know  of  any  law  to  keep  him  from 
it,  but  so  far  as  I  am  concerned  individually,  I  desire*  to  say, 
that  knowing  human  nature  as  I  do,  it  is  absolutely  impossible, 
for  me  to  give  credence  to  any  such  a  story.  The  logic  of 
the  whole  situation,  convinces  me  that  Felts'  story  is  true,  and 
that  is  the  reason  Post  did  not  blame  him  by  word  of  mouth, 


134  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

in  his  dying  moments  for  what  he  had  done.  It  should  not  be 
forgotten  that  the  instructions  of  the  judge  to  the  jury,  clearly 
pointed  out,  that  it  was  their  duty  to  acquit  this  deaf  old  man, 
if  they  found  that  he  had  been  assaulted  by  some  one  in  the 
dark,  as  he  passed  by  the  Davis  saloon  that  dreadful  night.  So 
the  fact  that  Post  said  Felts  did  it,  is  not  sufficient  of  itself  to 
establish  the  fact  that  this  old  soldier  is  a  murderer.  If  Post 
had  Felts  by  the  neck  in  the  dark,  even  if  he  was  in  fun,  Felt.s 
had  a  right  to  defend  himself  from  the  attack,  provided  he  be- 
lieved he  was  in  danger  of  suffering  great  bodily  harm,  anci 
l)articularly,  if  he  did  not  know  who  his  assailant  was  The 
State's  attorney  laid  a  good  deal  of  stress  upon  the  fact  that 
there  was  a  large  pool  of  blood  not  far  from  where  Gaylord 
and  Hodges  said  Post  was  standing.  The  fact  is  there  wa:i 
considerable  blood  all  about  over  the  walk  for  several  feet 
in  different  directions.  Besides  the  two  witnesses  already 
referred  to,  who  were  the  first  persons  to  see  him  after  he 
was  wounded,  testify  in  their  depositions  to  the  Board  of 
Pardons,  that  Post  was  lying  within  two  feet  of  the  outer  edge 
of  the  sidewalk,  as  they  j)assed  by  him,  on  their  way  home 
from  the  dance.  This  location  corresponds  with  Felts'  story,  as 
he  says  he  turned  off,  and  went  in  a  north-westerly  direction 
after  he  ran  against  Gaylord's-  foot.  Post  could  have  changed 
his  position,  and  got  up  closer  to  the  building,  before  the  crowd 
gathered,  later  on.  One  of  these  witnesses  also  tells  us  that 
a  chair  was  ti])pcd  over,  and  that  the  situation  as  it  presented 
itself  to  him,  looked  as  though  there  had  been  some  kind  of  a 
fight  or  scuffle.  The  fact  was  developed  during  the  trial  that 
Felts'  cane  was  picked  up  out  in  the  street,  not  far  away,  the 
next  morning  after  Post  was  killed.  It  is  fair  to  presume  that 
the  chair  was  tipped  over,  and  the  cane  flew  out  in  the  street, 
when  thLs  struggle  between  Post  and  Felts  was  going  on. 

Fred  Breed  says  that  when  Felts  w^as  in  the  lock-up  in 
Durand  the  night  that  he  was  arrested,  that  he  told  him  that 
Post  was  dead,  and  that  he  replied  **  that  he  didn't  give  a  damn, 
or  he  didn't  care  if  he  was,  or  words  to  that  effect."     The 


of  George  W.  Felts  135 

reader  will  observe  that  this  is  not  a  very  definite  statement, 
of  what  Felts  really  said  on  that  occasion.  The  witness  ought 
to  be  more  exact,  and  not  give  himself  so  much  latitude,  in  a 
matter  of  such  great  moment.  lie  admits  that  he  was  three 
feet  away  from  Felts  when  he  told  him  that  Post  was  dead, 
and  that  he  don't  remember  whether  he  used  the  eartube  or 
not.  Felts  declares  that  Breed  did  not  use  the  eartube  while 
talking  to  him  at  this  time,  and  that  he  never  understood  that 
Post  was  dead,  until  he  was  nearly  half  way  to  Rockford  the 
next  morning.  When  he  did  at  last  find  it  out,  he  told  the  offi- 
cers that  he  would  rather  have  killed  himself,  than  to  have 
killed  Post.  Then  he  said  he  was  sorry  for  the  family,  re- 
ferring no  doubt  to  the  wife  and  mother  of  the  deceased.  Every- 
body who  is  well  acquainted  with  George  Felts,  knows  that  he 
cannot  understand  what  is  being  said,  if  the  person  who  is  talk- 
ing to  him,  is  three  feet  away,  and  does  not  use  the  eartube. 
Sometimes  he  does  not  understand,  even  when  the  eartube  is 
used.  To  illustrate  what  I  mean,  he  was  asked  through  the 
eartul)e  on  tlie  witness  stand,  **  How  long  did  you  live  in  Rock- 
ford?"  He  answered  twenty-three  or  four  years.  He  sup- 
posed, as  we  found  out  afterwards,  that  they  asked  him  how 
long  it  had  been,  since  he  had  lived  in  Rockford.  We  could 
give  numerous  instances  of  this  kind,  showing  how  imperfectly 
he  hears,  even  through  the  eartube.  How  Mr.  Breed  could 
expect  him  to  hear  what  he  said  there  in  the  jail,  that  night 
when  he  didn't  use  the  eartube  where  everybody  was  excited, 
and  all  was  confusion,  is  more  than  I  am  able  to  understand. 
Certainly  no  sane  man  would  have  made  the  reply  to  Mr. 
Breed's  statement  that  Felts  did,  if  he  had  understood  at  the 
time  that  Post  was  dead.  He  was  in  the  hands  of  the  officers. 
There  was  no  chance  for  him  to  get  away.  Why  then  should 
he  make  such  a  heartless  and  wicked  reply  to  this  witness  if  he 
knew  at  the  time  Post  was  dead?  Every  sensible  person,  espe- 
cially those  who  know  how  deaf  Felts  is,  will  agree  with  me 
that  he  did  not  know  what  Mr.  Breed  said,  when  he  told  him 
Post  was  dead. 


13(3  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

Xow,  with  what  I  have  said,  spread  out  before  us,  does  it 
not  seem  unreasonable,  that  the  State's  attorney  should  cham- 
pion the  story  of  the  death  of  Spencer  Post,  as  told  l)y  Gay  lord 
and  Hodges?  Well  that  is  exactly  what  he  did  in  the  trial. 
Then  he  went  a  step  further,  and  made  all  manner  uf  fun,  of 
the  reasonable  story  as  told  by  the  defendant.  He  told  the 
jury  that  Post  was  never  on  the  old  man  I'elts  until  after  he  got 
into  that  court  room.  He  declared  that  K.  K.  Welsh,  the  at- 
torney for  the  defense,  had  made  up  the  story,  and  taught  it 
to  the  ])ris()ner,  and  that  there  was  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it. 
He  said  that  nobody  had  ever  heard  of  such  a  thing,  until  after 
we  got  into  the  trial.  And  yet  a  good  many  of  the  State's  own 
witnesses,  had  testified  during  the  trial,  in  his  presence,  that 
I'ells  claimed  immediately  after  his  arrest,  tluit  he  had  acted 
in  self  defense.  Ogilby,  the  deputy  sheriff,  and  Clare  Place, 
both  testified,  that  on  the  way  to  the  lock-up,  I'elts  declared, 
that  he  had  acted  in  self  defense.  Weaver  repeated  it,  over  and 
over  that  l''elts  told  them  from  the  time  of  liis  arrest,  until  they 
placed  him  in  jail,  that  he  had  acted  in  self  defense.  Ogilby 
testified,  that  he  heard  .I*'elts  tell  some  one  at  the  lock-up.  that 
he  had  acted  in  self  defense,  and  that  he  could  prove  it.  No 
doubt,  he  supposed  at  that  time  that  he  could  prove  it  by  Gay- 
lord  and  1  lodges,  as  he  i>robably  iiad  found  out  that  they  were 
present,  and  never  dreamed  that  they  would  make  up  a  story 
for  fear  of  being  implicated  in  the  crime  themselves.  Even 
Gaylord  testified,  that  helts  told  him  at  the  lock-up.  that  he 
acted  in  self  defense.  Ciaylord  would  have  been  (jne  of  the 
last  men  that  Felts  would  have  said  that  to,  if  it  were  not  so, 
as  Gaylord  was  there  at  the  time  of  the  trouble,  and  knew 
whether  I'elts  was  telling  the  truth  about  it  or  not.  Weaver, 
the  town  marshal,  who  assisted  in  arresting  this  deaf  old  man, 
was  one  of  the  star  witnesses  for  the  prosecution,  and  the  record 
shows  that  he  testified  as  follows.  I  quote  his  exact  language. 
"  He  said  Post  had  been  running  on  him  up  town,  and  that  he 
had  cut  Post  in  self  defense,  that  he  had  been  abusing  him." 
It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that  Felts  did  not  know  that  Post 


of  George  W.  Felts  137 

was  hurt,  until  the  officers  told  him,  when  they  came  to  arrest 
liim.  They  also  told  him  that  Post  said  that  he  did  it.  Up  to 
that  time,  he  did  not  know  who  had  been  on  him  in  the  dark. 
Xor  did  he  know  that  any  one  had  been  hurt  but  himself. 
Weaver  testified  further,  that  Felts  told  them,  when  they  went 
to  arrest  him,  that  Post  had  taken  him  by  the  neck,  with  his 
thumb  and  fingers,  and  pushed  him.  He  says  also,  that  he  told 
them  tliat  he  had  taken  him  by  the  back  of  the  neck,  and  shoved 
liim  forward.  Now  with  all  this  array  of  evidence  from  the 
state's  own  witnesses,  the  State's  attorney  stood  up  there  before 
that  jury,  clothed  in  his  official  authority,  with  the  destiny  of 
an  old  soldier  hanging  in  the  balance,  and  who  had  been  taken 
tlirough  his  trial  without  hearing  one  word  that  the  witnesses 
-^aid  against  him,  and  he  told  that  jury  that  his  attorney 
made  up  his  story  for  him,  and  that  nobody  had  ever  heard  oi 
it,  until  after  we  got  into  that  court  room.  Tiicre  is  a  day  of 
reckoning  for  an  attorney,  who  so  far  forgets  his  oath  of  office 
as  to  deny  the  testimony  of  his  own  witnesses  in  order  that  he 
may  !)c  able  to  send  an  old  deaf  man  to  prison  for  life.  If  he 
don't  reap  his  reward  for  his  evil  doing  in  this  life,  he  certainly 
will  in  the  next.  The  good  book  tells  us  that  *'  whatsoever  a 
man  soweth.  that  shall  he  also  reap."  It  also  speaks  of  persons 
who  sow  the  wind,  and  warns  all  such  that  they  shall  reap  the 
whirlwind.  The  fact  is  that  Felts  talked  self  defense  right 
along  the  night  he  was  arrested,  and  after  lie  was  placed  in 
the  jail  at  Rock  ford,  telling  everyone  that  he  told  about  it,  that 
he  had  acted  in  self  defense,  until  he  secured  R.  K.  Welsh  as  his 
attorney,  and  then  Mr.  Welsh,  instead  of  making  up  the  old 
man's  story  for  him,  issued  peremptory  orders,  for  him  to  keep 
his  mouth  shut,  and  not  say  anything  more  to  any  one  about 
the  case,  until  the  time  of  the  trial.  ^Ir.  Welsh  also  notified  all 
the  rest  of  us,  that  we  were  to  keep  quiet,  and  say  nothing  to 
the  people  in  regard  to  the  evidence  that  we  would  bring  for- 
ward in  the  trial  court.  We  were  not  even  permitted  to  answer 
any  of  the  false  charges  that  appeared  in  the  newspapers  right 
along,  and  which  prejudiced  many  of  the  good  people  against 


138  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

this  deaf  old  man,  no  doubt.  Our  attorney  said,  that  he  wanted 
to  try  the  case  in  the  court,  instead  of  the  newspapers.  This 
theory  is  probably  correct,  on  general  principles,  but  I  think 
we  made  a  great  mistake  in  this  case,  in  not  letting  the 
people  know  all  about  it  from  the  very  beginning.  The  news- 
papers were  not  to  blame  for  publishing  only  one  side,  as  they 
sought  us  repeatedly,  and  we  had  plenty  of  news  for  them  on 
our  side,  and  I  am  satisfied  now  that  if  we  had  given  it  to  the 
press,  and  they  had  circulated  it  freely  as  they  were  anxious 
to  do,  that  a  public  sentiment  would  have  been  created  in  this 
old  man's  favor,  that  would  have  helped  very  materially  in  the 
trial.  In  his  closing  speech,  the  State's  attorney  took  that  knife 
by  the  handle,  exposing  the  whole  blade,  and  showed  the  jury 
how  Felts  had  plunged  it  into  Post,  and  declared  that  it  was 
the  assassin's  grip.  How  did  he  know  that  was  the  way  it  was 
done?  He  was  not  there  when  it  happened,  and  no  one  had 
testified  to  anything  t)f  tlio  kind,  during  the  trial.  Adam 
Shorb,  the  deputy  sheriff,  who  hcli)ed  to  arrest  I'elts,  says  the 
old  man  showed  them  how  he  held  the  knife,  when  he  struck 
at  the  man's  leg,  and  that  he  held  the  blade  between  his  thumb 
and  finger  about  an  inch  from  the  i)oint.  Clare  Place  testified 
to  about  the  same  thing.  W'eaveh  says  that  he  held  the  knife 
in  his  hand  with  about  half  of  the  blade  exposed,  when  he  ex- 
hibited it  to  them,  at  the  time  of  his  arrest.  Gaylord  and 
Hodges  have  nothing  to  say  as  to  how  I-'elts  held  the  knife,  at 
the  time  they  say  the  deed  was  done,  in  fact  neither  one  of 
these  witnesses  tells  us  whether  he  had  a  knife  at  all.  It  will 
be  seen,  from  what  I  have  just  said,  that  the  State's  attorney 
was  by  all  odds  the  star  witness,  against  this  deaf  old  man,  so 
far  as  the  knife  is  concerned,  and  I  claim  that  he  had  no  right 
whatever  to  give  his  testimony,  as  I  am  credibly  informed,  that 
he  was  not  even  in  the  state,  when  this  sad  occurrence  took 
place. 

The  fact  had  been  brought  out  during  the  trial,  that  Felts 
had  been  looking  around  a  good  deal,  for  Lewis  Nath,  the 
evening  that  Post  was  killed.   He  had  expected  to  come  to  town 


of  George  W.  Felts  139 

that  night,  and  let  Felts  know  whether  he  would  haul  wood  for 
him  the  next  day.  Xath  went  on  the  witness  stand  and  testified 
t(j  this.  Other  witnesses  testified  that  Felts  was  in  their  places 
of  business  that  evening  inquiring  for  Xath.  Not  a  single  wit- 
ness pretended  to  deny  that  Felts  was  acting  in  good  faith,  in 
his  search  for  Xath  that  evening.  And  yet  the  State's  attorney, 
in  his  closing  speech,  held  this  deaf  old  man  up  to  ridicule  be- 
fore the  people,  and  mimicked  him  going  up  and  down  the 
streets  of  Durand  that  evening,  saying,  Xath,  Xath,  Xath, 
where's  Xath?  Fm  trying  to  find  Xath.  Then  straightening 
himself  up  to  his  full  height,  and  putting  on  a  pompous  air, 
he  declared  in  stentorian  tones,  that  Felts  had  been  looking  for 
no  one  else  that  evening  but  Spencer  Post,  with  murder  in  his 
heart.  How  did  he  know  that?  Xo  one  had  testified  to  it,  or 
even  intimated  anything  of  the  kind.  Besides  Felts  knew  where 
Post  was,  and  had  talked  to  him  several  times  during  the  even- 
ing. What  right  has  any  attorney  to  go  outside  of  the  evidence, 
or  deny  evidence  that  has  been  given,  in  order  that  he  may  be 
able  to  send  some  one  to  the  prison,  or  take  his  life  on  the 
galluws?  It  is  time  that  the  people  are  waking  up  to  these 
things.  There  is  no  more  excuse  for  an  attorney  juggling 
with  evidence,  than  there  is  for  the  prisoner  committing  the 
crime,  for  which  the  attorney  is  prosecuting  him.  I  know  that 
every  honest  lawyer  (and  there  are  plenty  of  them)  will  agree 
with  me,  in  what  I  say.  The  prisoner  is  put  on  trial  for  the 
purpose  of  finding  out  whether  he  is  guilty  of  the  crime 
charged,  and  not  simply  to  give  unscrupulous  attorneys  an 
opportunity  to  see  if  they  cannot  run  him  into  prison,  whether 
he  is  guilty  or  not.  There  are  many  other  things  that  I  would 
like  to  say  in  this  chapter,  but  our  space  is  limited,  and  I  must 
therefore  pass  them  by  for  the  present.  I  have  a  complete 
transcript  of  the  evidence  that  was  given  in  the  regular  trial,  as 
well  as  a  copy  of  all  the  new  evidence  that  was  submitted  to 
the  Board  of  Pardons  in  this  case,  and  if  there  is  anything  con- 
nected with  it,  that  I  have  not  made  clear  to  my  readers  I  will 
be  glad  to  inform  you  individually,  if  you  will  let  me  know.     1 


140  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

desire  to  say  in  conclusion  that  a  desperate  attempt  is  being 
made  by  the  State's  attorney,  to  make  the  people  bchcvc  that 
the  proceedings  of  the  trial  were  communicated  to  this  deaf  old 
soldier  (hiring  the  progress  of  the  trial.  But  everybody  who 
attended  the  trial  knows  better.  I  was  there  every  moment  of 
the  trial  and  I  know  that  the  court  was  never  stopped  as  the 
State's  attorney  told  the  Board  of  Pardons  it  was,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  communicating  the  proceedings  of  the  trial  to  him.  1 
have  known  Felts  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  I  know  that  he 
cannot  hear  conversation,  without  the  use  of  his  eartube,  and 
that  in  order  to  do  so  then,  the  person  speaking  to  him  must 
speak  slowly,  and  distinctly,  into  the  mouthpiece  of  the  eartube, 
and  even  then  it  often  becomes  necessary  to  repeat  to  him,  in 
order  that  he  be  able  to  understand  what  is  being  said.  No  one 
communicated  to  him  either  through  his  eartube  or  by  writing 
or  printing,  the  questions  that  were  put  to  the  jurors,  or  the 
answers  they  made  in  reply.  He  was  not  even  consulted,  as  to 
whether  or  not  he  was  willing  to  have  the  jurors  try  the  case. 
No  one  comnnniicated  to  him  what  the  witnesses  said  against 
him,  so  he  was  unable  to  consult  with  his  attorney  in  regard 
to  cross-cjuestioning  them.  Xo  one  informed  him,  what  the 
State's  attorney  said  about  him  in  his  closing  speech,  and  so 
he  sat  there  as  calm  as  a  May  morning,  while  this  officer  of  the 
law,  called  him  an  old  whisky  soak,  an  idle  man,  and  a  veri- 
table assassin. 

Felts  is  naturally  a  sensitive  man.  and  comes  of  a  good 
family,  and  would  have  been  greatly  irritated  if  he  could  have 
heard  the  villification,  and  abuse  that  was  heaped  upon  him. 
He  never  knew  about  it,  until  I  wrote  it  all  out  for  him, 
since  he  has  been  in  the  prison.  In  fact  he  was  as  ignorant  of  the 
details  of  his  trial,  as  if  he  had  been  an  idiot,  and  yet  he  was 
held  as  responsible  as  though  there  was  nothing  whatever  the 
matter  with  him.  One  of  the  first  questions  asked  this  old  man, 
when  he  was  put  on  the  witness  stand  was  this.  Have  you 
heard  any  of  the  proceedings  of  the  trial?  His  answer  was, 
*'  Not  a  word."     Of  course  this  question,  as  well  as  all  others 


of  George  W.  Felts  141 

fnit  to  him  while  he  was  giving  his  testimony,  was  spoken  to 
him  through  his  eartube.  Reader,  how  would  you  like  to  be 
tried  for  your  hfc,  and  not  know  what  your  accusers  said 
against  you?  Remember  that  George  Felts  wanted  to  know 
what  his  accusers  were  saying  against  him,  just  as  much  as 
you  would,  under  like  circumstances.  The  whole  thing  is 
wrong.  This  old  soldier  had  Common  Law,  and  Constitutional 
Rights,  as  a  deaf  person,  and  it  does  not  relieve  the  situation, 
that  neither  he  nor  his  friends  knew  what  his  rights  were,  at 
the  time  of  the  trial.  Those  who  were  administering  the  lav/ 
were  expected  to  know  what  they  were,  and  see  to  it  that  this 
infirm  old  man  received  equal  rights,  and  equal  protection,  the 
.-^ame  as  those  who  can  hear.  Why  should  a  man  who  can  heai , 
be  protected  in  his  rights,  and  a  deaf  person  be  taken  through 
his  trial  in  any  sort  of  a  way?  We  all  know,  that  it  would 
be  illegal,  to  try  a  person  who  is  absent,  and  if  it  was  done, 
and  he  was  sent  to  the  prison,  he  could  be  taken  out  and  dis- 
charged, on  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  How  is  this?  Why  does 
the  law  make  it  imperative,  that  the  prisoner  must  be  present  all 
the  time  during  the  trial  ?  Is  it  not  that  he  shall  be  able  to  fully 
understand  all  that  is  being  said  and  done?  How  about  a  deaf 
j)erson  who  is  taken  through  his  trial,  without  having  any  of  the 
proceedings  communicated  to  him,  while  the  trial  is  in  prog- 
ress? Shall  he  not  have  the  same  chance  to  defend  himself, 
as  one  who  can  hear?  Must  he  be  punished  on  account  of  his 
infirmity?  Our  theory  is,  that  every  American  citizen,  stands 
on  an  equality,  with  every  other  American  citizen,  before  the 
law.  Any  one  with  a  grain  of  common  sense,  can  see  that  this 
theory  was  not  applied  in  the  trial  of  George  W.  Felts,  and 
that  the  only  reason  that  can  be  given  for  it  is,  that  he  is  deaf. 
Along  with  his  sad  affliction,  does  he  also  lose  his  rights  as  an 
American  citizen  ?  We  all  know  that  he  does  not.  Wt  all  know 
too,  that  it  is  a  humane  principle,  that  if  a  prisoner  is  handi- 
capped by  an  infirmity,  of  any  kind,  that  he  should  be  treated 
with  all  the  more  consideration,  and  that  nothing  should  be 
left  undone,  that  could  be  done,  in  order  that  he  be  given  a 


142  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

fair  trial.  The  Constitution  of  Illinois  provides  that  the  ae- 
cuscd  shall  have  the  right,  not  only  to  defend  himself  hy  his 
attorney,  but  also  in  person.  How  eould  h'elts  defend  himself 
in  person,  when  he  did  nut  know  what  the  witnesses  were  say- 
ing against  him  during  the  trial?  When  we  first  began  to  talk 
about  this  matter,  the  State's  attorney  treated  it  as  a  big  joke, 
but  after  so  many  judges  said  that  Felts  should  have  known 
all  the  questions  that  were  propounded  to  the  jurors,  and  all 
the  answers  that  they  made  in  reply,  and  that  he  should  have 
known  everything  that  the  witnesses  said  against  him,  the 
State's  attorney  saw  that  he  was  on  dangerous  ground,' and 
that  if  he  were  not  careful,  he  would  run  into  a  corner,  in 
which  it  would  be  difficult  for  him  to  get  out,  so  he  began  to 
change  his  tactics,  and  at  first  he  claimed  that  Felts  could  hear, 
but  he  knew  that  so  many  people  who  were  acquainted  with 
Felts,  would  know  better,  that  he  decided  to  set  up  another 
claim,  and  this  is  what  it  is.  It  appears  in  his  statement  t(^  the 
Board  of  Pardons.  I  have  a  copy  of  his  statement  before  me, 
and  will  (juote  his  exact  language.  **  We  stopi)ed  the  progress 
of  the  trial,  at  any  time  the  defendant  so  desired,  and  any  or 
all  of  them  would  talk  with  him,  consult  with  him,  advise  him 
in  fact  he  was  better  and  more  thoroughly  informed,  and 
advised  of  what  was  being  said  and  done,  in  court,  and  its  legal 
effect,  than  he  could  have  been  had  every  question  and  answer 
been  written  out  for  him."  I  have  in  my  possession  the  tes- 
timony of  about  one  hundred  reputable  citizens  who  attended 
the  trial,  saying  that  the  foregoing  statement  is  false.  That 
the  court  was  never  stopped  for  the  purpose  of  communicating 
any  of  the  proceedings  of  the  trial  to  him.  Those  of  us  who  are 
his  friends  and  who  sat  beside  him  during  the  trial  are  in  a 
position  to  know  that  nothing  was  comnnmicated  to  him  while 
the  trial  was  going  on,  and  we  have  made  affidavits  to  that 
effect.  In  fact  there  are  now  about  fifty  affidavits  and  about 
fifty  more  people  have  signed  a  statement  setting  forth  that 
none  of  the  proceedings  of  the  trial  w^ere  communicated  to 
George  W.   Felts,  as  the  trial  progressed,    while    they    were 


of  George  W.  Felts  143 

present,  and  a  good  many  of  these  were  present  during  the 
entire  trial.  Among  the  fifty  who  made  affidavits  are  five 
clergj-mcn,  who  are  leading  men  in  their  respective  denomina- 
tions. In  addition  to  all  these  witnesses  the  court  record  itself, 
verified  by  the  court  reporter,  shows  that  Felts  is  deaf,  and  that 
nothing  was  written  out  and  communicated  to  him.  Besides 
tlie  court  record  shows,  that  the  judge  himself  said,  just  before 
I  he  sentence  was  pronounced,  *'  It  is  regrettable,  in  one  sense, 
lliat  the  defendant,  on  account  of  his  infirmity,  has  not  known 
clearly  what  has  been  done."  And  that  he  then  said  "  Under 
the  circumstances,  it  is  practically  impossible  for  me  to  say  any- 
thing to  this  defendant."  The  circumstances  were,  that  the 
old  blacksmith  was  deaf,  and  he  could  not  have  heard  what 
the  judge  said,  if  he  had  made  an  address,  and  so  the  usual 
])rocecdings  on  such  an  occasion  were  omitted,  and  the  sentence 
was  conveyed  to  him  by  the  sheriff,  through  the  eartube.  Our 
contention  is,  that  Felts  had  just  as  much  right  to  hear  and 
know  all  the  proceedings  of  the  trial,  as  he  had  to  hear  and 
know  the  sentence. 


144  Trial  and  Imprisonment 


I 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Reivcw  of  the  State's  Attorney's  Statement  to  the   lioard  of 

Pardons. 

By  W.  a.  Wiseman. 

Before  taking  up  the  work  of  reviewing  this  document  I 
desire  to  say,  that  no  man  hving  has  any  more  respect  for  an 
officer  than  I  have,  as  long  as  he  oheys  the  law  and  respects  his 
oath  of  office,  and  faithfully  looks  after  the  interests  of  all  the 
people,  within  his  jurisdiction.  I  want  it  distinctly  understood, 
by  every  person  who  reads  this  book,  that  I  am  a  loyal  Amer- 
ican citizen.  Hiat  1  believe  in  standing  by  an  officer  as  long 
as  he  does  his  duty,  even  if  in  so  doing,  he  is  instrumental  in 
sending  the  best  friend  I  have  to  the  prison.  "  But  when  an 
officer  of  the  law  becomes  a  persecutor,  as  well  as  a  prosecutor, 
for  his  own  aggrandizement,  and  indulges  in  all  manner  of 
falsehood,  and  vituperation,  in  order  to  convict  the  accused, 
then  I  feel  at  liberty,  as  an  American  citizen  to  raise  my  voice 
in  protest,  and  I  will  do  it,  for  the  good  of  society.  Our  be- 
loved, martyred  Lincoln  declared,  that  "  this  is  a  country  of  the 
people,  by  the  peoi)le,  and  for  the  ])eople."  The  rights  of  the 
people  are  sacred,  and  equal,  and  it  is  not  the  province  of  an 
officer  in  this  land  of  ''  ecjual  rights,  and  equal  protection,"  to 
put  one  person  up,  and  another  down,  whenever  he  chooses  to 
do  so.  On  the  contrary,  the  rights  of  the  people  are  inherent 
in  the  people  themselves,  and  they  for  their  own  con- 
venience, have  wisely  selected  officers,  and  placed  them  in  au- 
thority, and  agreed  among  themselves  to  be  subject  to  that 
authority,  so  long  as  these" officers  obey  the  laws,  and  the  con- 
stitution of  the  state  and  of  the  United  States.  They  have  not 
only  put  these  officers  on  their  honor,  to  do  what  is  right  under 
the  laws  and  the  constitution  of  the  state  and  of  the  nation,  but 


of  George  W.  Felts  145 

tliev  have  required  them  to  lake  a  solemn  oath  before  God 
that  they  would  do  so.  In  this  land  of  freedom,  for  the  op- 
pressed of  all  nations,  no  license  has  ever  been  given  to  an 
officer  to  tyrannize  or  abuse  the  humblest  citizen  in  all  the 
realm.  The  officers  are  working  under  the  direction  of  the 
law,  and  are  subject  to  it,  the  same  as  the  private  citizen.  No 
officer  has  the  right  to  slander,  or  abuse  a  private  citizen,  any 
more  than  a  private  citizen  has  to  slander  or  abuse  an  officer. 
The  people  give  an  officer  his  position,  and  pay  him  for  his 
time,  and  expect  him  to  look  after  the  interests  of  every  man 
woman  and  child,  within  the  prescribed  territory,  where  he  ex- 
ercises official  authority.  They  do  not  expect  him  to  use  his 
office  simply  as  a  shield,  or  a  cloak,  or  a  stepping  stone,  to  some 
official  position,  of  greater  prominence.  Nor  do  they  expect 
him  to  use  it  as  a  whip,  a  sort  of  '*  cat  o'  nine  tails,"  to  all  such 
as  refuse  to  bow  at  his  shrine,  and  pay  homage  to  him,  whether 
he  docs  the  right  or  not.  If  the  people  of  Winnebago  County, 
understood  all  that  I  have  had  to  put  up  with,  at  the  hands  of 
the  ])rcsent  State's  attorney  they  would  understand  better  what 
1  mean  and  they  would  not  blame  me,  the  least  bit.  for  the  hon- 
est, earnest  fight  that  I  have  been  making,  at  a  great  per- 
sonal sacrifice,  to  secure  for  George  Felts  what  I  believe  are 
his  rights  as  an  American  citizen,  under  the  constitution  and 
laws  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  of  the  United  States. 

\\'hen  we  failed  in  our  attempt  to  have  this  deaf  old  soldier 
released  on  habeas  corpus  after  he  had  been  taken  through 
liis  trial.  witln)ut  having  any  of  the  proceedings  communicated 
to  him,  as  the  trial  progressed,  we  decided  to  try  to  secure  for 
him  a  new  trial,  in  which  everything  should  be  interpreted  to 
him,  so  that  he  could  have  the  same  chance  to  defend  himself, 
as  one  who  could  hear.  Every  judge  before  whom  we  pre- 
sented our  case,  assured  us  that  a  great  injustice  had  been  done 
the  ])risoner,  and  said  that  he  should  have  been  informed  of  all 
that  was  said  in  the  trial,  but  they  all  told  us  that  our  remedy 
was  to  be  found  in  a  \\'rit  of  Error,  instead  of  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus.     The  statute  of  Illinois  gives  the  prisoner  five  years, 


146  Trial  and'  Imprisonment 

to  go  up  to  the  Supreme  Court,  on  a  writ  of  error.  In  regard 
to  the  Bill  of  Exceptions  the  following  is  the  Illinois  statute : 
Sec.  197,  Revised  Statutes  of  1845,  "  In  the  trial  of  any  person, 
for  any  crime  or  misdemeanor,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  judge 
before  whom  such  trial  is  pending,  to  sign  and  seal  any  bill  of 
exceptions  tendered  to  the  court,  during  the  progress  thereof; 
Provided  the  truth  of  the  case  be  fairly  stated  in  such  Bill  of 
Exceptions."  Originally  each  exception  was  put  in  writing  and 
signed  by  the  judge,  as  the  case  progressed.  Later,  it  became 
the  practice  to  collect  the  exceptions  into  a  bill,  which  the  judge 
must  sign  during  that  session  of  the  court.  After  the  employ- 
ment of  stenographers,  it  became  the  practice,  to  pile  up  the 
shorthand  notes,  and  leave  them  in  that  shape,  until  such  time 
as  the  litigant  wished  to  get  out  his  Bill  of  Exceptions.  There 
came  a  time,  when  for  the  convenience  of  the  courts,  the 
judges  were  allowed  to  limit  the  time,  for  taking  out  the  bill 
of  Exceptions.  The  consequence  is  that  while  the  statute 
gives  the  citizen  five  years,  in  which  to  go  up  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  have  his  case  reviewed  on  a  writ  or  error,  the  pres- 
ent court  practice  in  the  State  of  Illinois  permits  the  judge  to 
shorten  the  time  to  a  few  days  if  he  wishes  to  do  so.  In  the 
present  case  the  statute  gave  George  \\'.  Eelts  five  years  in 
which  to  go  up  to  the  supreme  court,  on  a  Writ  of  Error,  and 
the  judge  gave  him  only  ninety  days  in  which  to  get  out  his  Bill 
of  Exceptions,  which  was  practically  cutting  down  the  time 
from  five  years  to  ninety  days,  as  it  was  impossible  for  him 
to  get  the  money  to  pay  for  the  Bill  of  Exceptions,  within  the 
time  specified,  and  the  Bill  of  Exceptions  is  necessary  in  order 
to  go  up  to  the  Supreme  Court  on  a  Writ  of  Error.  Besides 
the  prisoner  never  knew  that  he  had  been  limited  to  the  ninety 
days  already  referred  to,  until  he  saw  it  in  a  newspaper  about 
the  time  it  expired.  The  court  practice  already  referred  to  has 
worked  a  great  hardship  in  many  cases,  especially  among  the 
poor,  and  for  this  reason  another  court  practice  has  come  into 
use.  and  is  often  allowed  by  the  State's  attorneys  and  judge*?, 
in  the  interest  of  justice  and  humanity.     I  refer  to  the  signing 


of  George  W.  Felts  147 

the  Bill  of  Exceptions  "  Nunc  pro  Tunc,"  which  means  the 
same  as  **  Now  lor  Then.''  The  theory  of  the  whole  practice 
runs  about  as  follows.  If  the  judge  grants  a  prisoner,  say 
ninety  days,  in  which  to  take  out  his  Bill  of  Exceptions,  he 
claims  tliat  his  jurisdiction  in  llie  case,  extends  up  to  the  end 
of  that  time*  and  that  if  the  prisoner  notifies  him  before  the 
ninety  days  expire,  that  he  wants  the  time  extended,  that  he  has 
tlic  right  to  give  him  ninety  days  more,  or  any  other  numljer 
of  days  he  may  decide  upon,  and  that  his  jurisdiction  in  the 
case,  still  continues  up  to  the  end  of  the  extension,  and  if 
again  applied  to  before  the  time  expires,  he  can  again  extend, 
and  so  on,  until  the  whole  five  years  are  included,  provided  the 
judges  term  of  office  does  not  expire,  or  the  judge  does  not 
expire  himself,  or  one  order  of  the  court  does  not  lapse  be- 
fore another  extension  is  granted.  This  is  the  regular  method 
as  it  has  been  stated  to  me  by  those  in  whose  legal  knowledge 
I  iiave  confidence.  The  Nunc  pro  Tunc  order  is  like  this. 
Supi)osc  a  judge  gives  the  prisoner  ninety  days  in  which  to 
take  out  his  Bill  of  Exceptions  ,  and  he  cannot  get  the  money 
to  pay  the  stenograplier  for  doing  the  necessary  work  inside 
of  the  time  given,  and  he  fails  to  ask  for  an  extension  of  the 
time,  and  the  ninety  days  are  allowed  to  expire.  A  few  days 
after,  friends  become  interested  in  the  case,  and  offer  to  put  up 
the  money,  to  pay  for  the  record,  and  the  matter  is  presented 
to  the  judge  and  the  State's  attorney,  and  they  consider  it,  and 
feeling  that  the  ends  of  justice  may  not  have  been  reached  in 
the  case,  and  desiring  to  be  humane,  and  give  the  prisoner  the 
benefit  of  the  statute  that  gives  him  five  years  in  which  to  go 
up  to  the  higher  court  and  have  the  case  reviewed,  they  extend 
the  time  for  filing  the  Bill  of  Exceptions,  the  same  as  they 
would  have  done,  if  they  had  been  asked  to  do  so  before  the 
ninety  days  had  expired.  One  very  able  lawyer,  who  has  a 
clear  brain,  and  a  big  heart,  and  who  served  in  the  capacity  of 
State's  attorney  for  eight  years,  told  me  that  he  often  con- 
sented to  the  Nunc  pro  Tunc  order  while  he  was  filling  that 
office.     Another  one,  who  had  held  the  same  official  position, 


148  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

for  the  same  length  of  time,  said  that  he  had  consented  to  the 
order  after  the  time  had  expired  a  couple  of  years.  In  frict 
(luite  a  num'Dcr,  of  as  good  lawyers  as  can  Ije  found  in  the 
ranks  of  that  honored  i)rofcssion,  assured  me  that  such  an  order 
was  often  granted  in  the  interest  of  justice  and  humanity.  This 
deaf  old  soldier  did  not  know  that  he  was  limited  to  ninety 
days,  in  which  to  prepare  his  Bill  of  Exceptions,  as  the  pro- 
ceedings were  not  communicated  to  him.  But  if  he  had  known 
it,  he  did  not  have  the  necessary  money  to  i)ay  for  writing  up 
the  record.  The  friends  of  the  old  soldiers  in  Chicago  became 
interested  in  the  case,  and  furnished  the  necessary  money  to 
write  up  the  transcript  of  evidence,  and  1  immediately  went  to 
Rockford,  never  dreaming  that  the  State's  attorney  would  re- 
fuse to  let  this  deaf  old  soldier  go  up  to  the  Supreme  Court.  All 
he  had  to  do  was  to  agree  to  the  Nunc  pro  Tunc  order.  But 
when  I  asked  him  about  it,  he  said  there  was  no  law  for  it. 
X either  is  there  any  law  for  extending  the  Judge's  jurisdiction 
over  the  case  for  90  days  after  the  session  of  the  court  closes, 
and  ])ermitting  him  to  ctMitinue  to  extend  ihc  lime  for  fiiling 
the  r.ill  of  Exceptions  from  one  date  to  another,  until  -lie  has 
taken  up  the  whole  five  years,  if  he  choo.ses  to  do  so.  I>ut 
there  is  court  practice  for  it,  and  so  it  is  done.  So  too  ther'j 
is  court  i)ractice  for  signing  the  Bill  of  Exceptions  Nunc  pro 
Tunc.  And  any  man  witii  a  heart  in  him,  will  follow  that 
court  practice  in  a  case  like  this.  J  kit  this  is  not  the  reason  he 
gave  us  in  a  letter  only  a  short  time  before,  a  copy  of  which  wc 
have  submitted  to  the  Board  of  Pardons.  In  explaining  why  he 
was  not  willing  to  stipulate  so  broadly  as  we  suggested,  in  the 
matter  of  a  new  trial,  he  said  in  his  letter  already  referred  to, 
'*  that  the  method  of  interpretation  necessary,  would  involve 
great  delay."  Oh  ,ho.  Then  there  is  **  a  method  of  interpret- 
ing necessary  "  in  tlie  trial  of  a  deaf  person,  and  the  State's 
attorney  knew  it,  and  was  not  willing  to  follow  it.  for  the  rea- 
son that  it  would  take  too  long  to  try  the  case  in  that  way.  How 
is  that?  Take  too  long  to  give  an  old  deaf  soldier  a  legal 
trial?     Who  gave  this  State's  attorney  the  right  to  set  aside 


of  George  W.  Felts  '  149 

legal  methods  that  have  been  followed  in  the  courts  of  this 
country  from  the  days  of  the  colonies,  down  to  the  present 
time?  Isn't  he  paid  for  his  time?  Why  then  get  in  a  hurry, 
when  the  life  and  liberty  of  an  old  deaf  man  is  at  stake? 
Everybody  has  a  right  to  his  own  opinion,  and  my  private 
opinion,  publicly  expressed,  is  just  this,  the  State's  attorney 
was  afraid  to  let  this  old  man  have  the  kind  of  a  trial  that  the 
Common  Law  prescribes,  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  guarantees  in  the  trial  of  a  deaf  person,  for  fear  he 
might  be  acquitted.  But  what  glory  he  can  get  out  of  send- 
ing an  old  deaf  man  to  the  prison  for  life,  who  never  heard 
any  of  the  proceedings  of  the  trial,  as  the  trial  progressed,  is 
more  than  I  am  able  to  see.  Well  I  tried  every  way  I  could 
to  get  that  **  Nunc  pro  Tunc  Order  "  for  about  two  weeks.  I 
argiied,  I  plead,  I  presented  letters  from  leading  lawyers  and 
judges.  I  went  early,  and  late,  and  often.  I  got  other  people, 
who  were  interested,  to  intercede  for  me.  But  it  was  of  no  use. 
In  vain  did  I  tell  him  that  we  now  had  new  evidence  that  I 
was  satisfied  would  clear  this  old  soldier  of  the  crime  of 
murder,  in  any  court.  He  simply  replied  that  I  did  not  know 
George  I^'elts  as  well  as  he  did.  A  person  would  think  from  the 
way  he  talked,  that  he  had  been  brought  up  in  the  same  family 
with  him,  he  seemed  so  familiar  with  him.  I  finally  suggested 
to  him,  that  if  he  was  afraid  that  the  people  of  Winnebago 
County  would  not  indorse  his  action  if  he  opened  the  door,  and 
let  this  deaf  old  man  go  up  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  state, 
that  I  would  relieve  the  situation  for  him  in  a  measure  at 
least,  by  circulating  a  petition  among  the  leading  men  and 
women  of  the  county,  asking  him  to  take  such  a  course.  He 
replied  that  he  would  not  agree  to  let  this  old  man  go  up  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  state,  if  half  of  the  people  of  the  county 
would  sign  a  petition  asking  him  to  do  so.  Well,  what  could 
I  do?  Absolutely  nothing.  Although,  I  believed  we  had  suffi- 
cient evidence,  that  had  never  been  used,  to  acquit  the  prisoner 
in  any  court,  still  I  must  be  prevented  from  using  it,  because 
the  State's  attorney  would  not  give  his  consent. 


150  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

After  two  weeks  of  hopeless  endeavor,  along  this  line,  1 
decided  to  give  up  the  idea  of  a  new  trial,  and  npi^U'  for  a 
pardon.  I  did  not  like  to  do  this,  but  as  there  was  no  hope  of 
securing  a  new  trial  because  of  the  State's  attorney's  opposition, 
I  didn't  see  any  other  way  of  getting  this  suffering  old  man, 
out  of  the  prison.  Accordingly  the  30th  day  of  last  May,  my 
wife  and  I,  went  to  the  city  of  Rockford,  where  the  trial  was 
held,  and  began  circulating  a  petition  for  the  pardon  of  George 
W.  I'elts.  Xo  sooner  had  we  begun  our  work,  than  one  of  the 
leading  newspapers  of  the  city,  came  out  with  big  head  lines, 
announcing  that  the  State's  attorney  would  oppose  us,  by  get- 
ting up  a  remonstrance  to  our  petition.  This  statement  of  the 
j)ress  has  never  been  contradicted,  and  so  from  that  day  to  this, 
the  whole  strength  of  the  State's  attorney's  official  position, 
has  been  directly  opposed  to  our  work.  He  seemed  to  take  it 
as  a  personal  insult,  that  we  should  undertake  to  get  our 
brother  out  of  the  prison,  after  we  had  become  thoroughly  con- 
vinced, that  he  never  intended  to  commit  any  crime.  He  told 
me  in  his  own  office,  that  if  I  undertook  to  gather  up  new  evi- 
dence and  present  it  to  the  Board  of  Pardons,  that  he  would 
give  me  the  hardest  fight,  I  ever  had  in  my  life.  Everybody 
knows  that  I  don't  want  to  fight.  What  I  am  trying  to  do,  is 
to  get  the  old  man  Felts  out  of  the  prison.  I  would  very  much 
prefer  to  say  real  nice  things  about  this  young  attorney,  than 
to  speak  of  him  in  any  other  way.  But  how  can  I  and  get  this 
much  wronged  man  out  of  the  prison,  at  the  same  time?  He 
claims  to  represent  the  people  of  Winnebago  County,  in  op- 
posing the  pardon  of  George  W.  Felts.  I  say  he  is  doing  noth- 
ing of  the  kind.  I  have  been  around  over  the  county  quite  a 
little,  since  we  undertook  to  get  the  pardon,  and  I  have  talked 
with  a  good  many  people  in  regard  to  the  matter,  during  that 
time,  and  I  know  that  a  large  majority  of  them  not  only  want 
this  old  soldier  released  from  the  prison,  but  they  also  feel, 
that  a  great  injustice  was  done,  when  he  was  sent  there.  The 
people  of  Winnebago  County  believe  in  a  square  deal,  and  they 
don't  believe  that  George  Felts  has  had  it,  in  tlie  present  case. 


of  George  W.  Felts  151 

They  believe  that  he  should  have  known  the  proceedings  of 
liis  trial,  as  it  progressed.  They  believe  that  the  evidence 
in  regard  to  the  condition  of  his  neck  when  he  entered  the  jail, 
should  have  gone  to  the  jury.  They  believe  that  when  it  did 
not  this  deaf  old  man,  should  have  been  given  a  new  trial. 
They  believe  that  when  the  State's  attorney  prevented  him 
from  securing  a  new  trial,  he  should  have  kept  out  of  his  way 
when  his  friends  applied  for  a  pardon.  The  people  of  Win- 
nebago County  are  all  right,  and  I  am  glad  that  I  ever  got  ac- 
quainted with  so  many  of  them.  I  shall  never  forget  their 
kindness  or  consideration.  As  soon  as  we  began  our  work  in 
the  city  of  Rockford,  the  people  with  very  few  exceptions, 
seemed  to  be  in  perfect  sympathy  with  our  cause.  Several  of 
the  attorneys  declared  that  Felts  never  had  any  trial,  that  he 
had  never  been  in  court.  Many  of  the  business  men,  as  soon 
as  they  found  out  what  we  were  doing,  said,  of  course  we  will 
sigii  your  petition,  we  would  have  signed  it  the  next  day  after 
the  trial,  if  you  had  come  around,  that  old  man  never  ought  to 
have  been  sent  to  the  prison.  We  secured  about  5,000  sig- 
natures to  our  petition,  in  the  city  of  Rockford  alone,  many  of 
whom  attended  the  trial,  at  least  a  part  of  the  time,  and  some 
of  them  were  present  all  the  time.  We  were  adding  two 
hundred  names  a  day  to  our  petition,  when  we  closed  our  can- 
vass, and  sent  the  names  of  the  petitioners  to  the  Board  of  Par- 
dons, expecting  that  the  hearing  would  come  off  in  a  few  days ; 
instead  of  that,  on  account  of  the  illness  of  one  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Board  of  Pardons,  it  was  postponed  for  over  two 
months.  If  we  had  kept  right  on  with  our  petition,  we  could 
have  secured  at  least  ten  thousand  signers  before  the  hearing 
came  off.  We  do  not  say  these  things  to  boast.  Any  one 
might  have  done  as  well  as  ourselves,  besides  a  great  many 
kind  hearted  people,  whom  we  shall  never  forget,  assisted 
us,  and  secured  a  great  many  of  the  names  for  us.  I  have  no 
word  of  reproach  for  any  of  those  who  signed  the  remon- 
strance. I  want  all  such  to  read  our  book,  and  if  you  do  not 
have  the  money  to  purchase  a  copy,  kindly  let  me  know,  and  E 


152  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

will  be  glad  to  furnish  you  one  free  of  charge.  We  believe  we 
arc  right,  and  for  this  reason  alone  we  arc  struggling  along, 
against  great  odds,  trying  to  get  this  deaf  old  man  out  of  the 
prison.  I  am  now  going  to  review  the  State's  attorney's  state- 
ment to  the  Board  of  Pardons,  and  if  you  will  follow  me  closely, 
I  think  you  will  come  to  the  same  conclusion  I  have,  that  his 
methods  will  not  bear  investigation. 

His  statement  is  an  official  document  which  the  law  re- 
quires the  State's  attorney  to  furnish  to  the  Board  of  Pardons. 
He  should  have  given  it  to  me,  when  I  called  on  him  for  it 
months  before.  He  starts  out  by  telling  the  Board  that  what 
he  had  to  say,  would  be  made  up  largely  from  his  memory, 
and  some  notes  that  he  had  taken  down  at  the  time  of  the 
trial,  for  his  own  personal  use.  He  says,  "  I  should  much 
prefer  to  have  had  an  opportunity  of  reviewing  the  transcript 
of  the  evidence,  filed  with  you."  He  asked  me  some  time  be- 
fore if  he  could  have  access  to  the  transcript  of  evidence,  and 
I  told  him  that  he  could,  and  so  if  he  flid  not  avail  himself  of  that 
privilege,  there  was  no  one  to  blame  for  it  but  himself.  He 
next  proceeds  to  give  a  write  up  of  the  town  of  Durand.  He 
says.  "  It  is  a  small  town  of  probably  four  hundred  inhab- 
itants." Unless  I  am  very  much  mistaken,  he  is  away  oflp,  on 
his  estimate.  I  have  always  supposed  that  there  are  anywhere 
from  eight  hundred  to  one  thousand  people  living  in  that  pros- 
perous little  village.  I  simply  call  attention  to  this  matter,  as 
I  want  you  to  take  notice  how  unreliable  he  is,  in  all  his  state- 
mcTits.  In  another  j^lacc  he  undertakes  to  describe  the  situa- 
tion, in  front  of  the  Davis  saloon,  in  Durand.  He  says  "A 
wooden  awning  extended  down  over  the*  sidewalk,  in  front  of 
the  saloon  building  in  question,  so  that  a  person  would  be  un- 
able to  distinguish  clearly  any  person  in  the  dark  by  coming 
up  suddenly  and  looking  in  toward  the  building."  He  admits 
that  the  circumstances  were  such,  that  it  would  be  very  difficult 
to  recognize  a  person  in  the  dark,  and  yet  he  goes  on  the  theory 
that  Felts,  who  is  old,  and  whose  eyes  are  very  defective,  did 
recognize  Post.    What  kind  of  logic  is  this  ?    It  was  too  dark  for 


of  George  W.  Felts  153 

Felts  to  recognize  Post  there  that  night.  He  next  tells  us  "  O.  E. 
Davis  at  that  time  conducted  a  saloon,  and  closed  that  night 
at  eleven  o'clock.  Then  he  tells  us  that  "  Felts  walked  up 
and  down  the  streets,  and  about  eleven  thirty  he  cancelled  his 
order  for  the  beer."  That  is  he  cancelled  his  order  for  the 
beer  a  half  hour  after  the  saloon  closed  and  the  keeper  had 
put  out  the  lights,  and  gone  home.  Now  the  fact  is,  as  shown 
by  the  record,  Felts  went  home  at  eleven  o'clock,  and  was  not 
on  the  streets  at  eleven  thirty  at  all,  but  was  sitting  on  his  own 
porch.  Then  he  goes  on  to  say  that  Felts  was  irritated,  and 
getting  in  an  ugly  mood,  as  he  walked  up  and  down  the  streets. 
The  record,  which  I  have  before  me  as  I  write,  and  which  I 
shall  follow  very  carefully,  in  this  review,  shows  nothing  what- 
ever of  the  kind.  One  of  the  representative  citizens  of  Rock- 
ford,  who  happened  to  be  in  Durand  the  night  of  the  sad  oc- 
currence in  question,  has  written  the  following  letter  to  the 
lioard  of  Pardons,  and  I  have  a  copy  of  it  in  my  possession. 
"  1  have  been  ac(|uainte(l  with  George  W.  I^^lts  for  many  years. 
So  far  as  I  know,  he  was  always  a  quiet  and  industrious  man. 
The  charge  that  he  was  intoxicated,  the  night  that  Spencer 
Post  was  cut,  is  wholly  untrue,  to  my  certain  knowledge.  I 
talked  with  him  that  night  three  times,  the  last  time,  between 
nine  and  ten  o'clock.  There  was  no  sign  of  liquor,  in  his  con- 
versation or  manner.  He  was  as  natural  as  a  deaf  man  could 
be,  and  good  natured  and  sober."  The  State's  attorney  says 
/hat  "  C).  F.  Davis  closed  his  saloon  that  night  at  eleven  o'clock  " 
put  out  the  lights  and  left  the  place.  Among  those  who 
lingered  after  the  closing  hour,  were  witnesses  Gaylord, 
I  lodges,  Thiele,  and  deceased  Spencer  Post.  As  the  defendant 
l)assed  along  down  the  street,  he  came  up  to  this  crowd  of 
men."  Now  he  would  have  us  believe  that  the  lights  were  out. 
and  that  it  was  dark  in  front  of  the  saloon,  when  Felts  came 
up.  but  the  court  record  shows  that  the  lights  were  still  burn- 
ing, and  that  it  was  light  in  front  of  the  saloon  at  this  time. 
The  reader  nuist  bear  in  mind  that  Post  was  not  stabbed  until 
nearly  an  hour  after  this  time  and  then  the  lights  were  all  out 


154  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

The  State's  attorney  quotes  the  Dr.  who  attended  Post  in  his 
dyiniT^  hour  as  sayin<^  "  The  blood  was  tlowinj;-  rapidly  from  the 
wound,  and  in  jets,  and  not  a  continuous  flow."  If  that  is  true, 
why  didn't  the  Dr.  tic  the  artery  and  stnj)  the  How  of  Mood? 
I  now  make  a  more  serious  charge  ai^ainst  the  State's  at- 
torney, than  anything  I  have  said  up  to  the  present  time.  He 
has  actually  injected  very  jnaterial  evidence  into  the  record  of 
this  case,  that,  if  it  was  done  in  a  matter  of  business,  would 
be  called  forgery.  He  says,  "  While  in  a  dying  condition  Post 
was  asked,  "Who  did  it?"  And  he  stated  Felts.  And  upon 
being  asked  *'  \\'hy,"  **  He  said  he  didn't  know."  I  challenge 
that  last  question  and  answer.  There  is  nothing  of  the  kind 
in  the  record,  and  no  one  ever  heard  of  it  before,  and  I  believe 
the  State's  attorney  has  deliberately  made  up  the  whole  thing, 
and  dragged  it  in  here  for  a  purpose.  If  he  has  done  it  igno 
rantly,  then  I  charge  on  him.  tliat  he  is  a  blind  leader,  and 
will  lead  all  th(^se  who  follow  him  into  the  ditch.  The  friends 
on  both  sides  of  this  case,  have  always  regretted,  that  someone 
did  not  ask  the  very  question,  the  State's  attorney  refers  to  in 
his  statement.  It  is  very  strange,  that  at  this  late  day,  this  ])oint 
of  evidence,  that  he  would  have  used  with  great  etfect  during 
the  trial,  if  he  had  known  it,  should  suddenly  burst  in  upon 
the  State's  attorney's  mind.  To  me  there  is  something  awful, 
in  the  very  thought  of  putting  words  into  the  mouth  of  a  dying 
man.  Such  a  thing  is  unpardonable  in  any  lawyer,  and  par- 
ticularly one,  who  rej^resents  the  state.  I  have  no  doubt 
Spencer  Post  would  have  spoken  the  truth  about  it,  in  his  last 
moments  if  one  of  the  bystanders  had  interrogated  him  in  regard 
to  the  matter,  but  in  the  excitement  it  was  overlooked,  and  now 
it  is  too  late  for  the  State's  attorney  to  ask  questions  of  the  de- 
ceased, and  then  go  to  work  and  answer  them  himself.  In 
another  place  he  says  **  lUit  the  knife  I-'elts  had  in  his  pocket, 
was  still  wet  and  warm,  with  the  blood  of  the  deceased."  If  that 
was  true,  and  Felts  understood  the  whole  situation  why  didn't 
he  either  wipe  the  blood  off  the  knife,  or  throw  it  away?  Is  it 
natural  for  a  person  to  carry  a  bloody  knife  around  in  his  pocket. 


of  George  W.  Felts  155 

after  he  has  committed  a  great  crime  ?  But  there  was  no  blood  in 
I'elts'  pocket.  If  there  had  been  blood  on  the  knife,  would 
it  not  have  stained  his  pocket?  If  Felts  had  thrust  that  knife? 
into  Post  unprovoked,  would  he  have  carried  it  around  in  hi?, 
pocket  covered  with  blood,  until  the  officers  came  to  arrest 
liim,  and  would  he  then  have  turned  the  knife  over  to  these 
same  officers  without  any  hesitation  whatever,  as  the  record 
shows  he  did?  Not  if  he  was  in  his  right  mind.  Tliat  is  not 
the  way  a  person  does  when  he  has  committed  a  crime,  and  is 
in  his  right  mind.  One  thing  is  sure,  the  knife  would  not  have 
been  warm,  at  least  a  half  hour  after  the  deed  was  done,  unless 
tlic  warmtli  came  from  the  pocket  of  the  defendant,  instead  of 
the  blood  of  the  deceased. 

Speaking  of  l-'elts  after  he  was  lodged  in  the  county  jail 
.it  Rockford  he  says,  **  A  day  or  two  later,  he  complained  of 
rlieumatism,  saying  that  the  cell  was  a  little  damp,  and  that 
he  desired  to  have  an  extra  pillow  which  was  furnished  him." 
Why  should  the  cell,  which  is  located  several  feet  above  the 
level  of  tlic  ground,  be  damp  in  the  month  of  August?  Mrs. 
Wiseman  got  the  pillow  for  him,  not  because  he  had  the  rheu- 
matism, but  because  his  neck  was  marked  and  bruised  and 
swollen,  as  she  tells  us  in  her  deposition  to  the  Board  or  Par- 
dons. His  neck  was  so  injured,  that  he  was  compelled  to  sit 
up  almost  straight  in  the  bed  in  order  to  sleep  at  all.  He 
wanted  the  i)illow  to  use  as  a  prop,  and  the  record  before  the 
Board  of  I'ardons,  shows  that  he  used  it  in  that  way.  Then 
he  says,  "  There  was  no  evidence  whatever,  of  any  violence 
<l()ne  to  Mr.  I'^lts,"  and  this  in  face  of  the  fact,  that  we  now 
have  a  dozen  witnesses  who  testify,  that  there  was  every  in- 
dication that  he  had  been  roughly  handled  in  some  way,  and 
several  of  these  witnesses  testify  that  there  were  marks  and 
bruises  on  his  neck,  when  they  saw  him  soon  after  he  was 
placed  in  jail,  and  that  Felts  told  them  that  these  injuries  were 
received  by  him  the  night  of  the  trouble. 

The  State's  attorney  then  proceeds  with  his  statement  as 
follows,  "  A  week  or  ten  days  after  the  killing,  his  sister  Mrs. 


156  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

W  iseiiian  and  her  luisl)and  came  from  Iowa,  where  they  at  that 
time  Hved."  The  facts  are  Mrs.  Wiseman  saw  her  brother  the 
morning  of  the  third  day  after  he  was  placed  in  the  jail,  and 
the  writer  did  not  see  him  until  about  five  months  after  the 
sad  occurrence  took  place.  In  this  statement  of  facts  to  the 
Board  of  Pardons,  this  official  document  that  is  expected  to  be 
a  masterpiece,  the  State's  attorney  does  not  even  appear  in 
the  role  of  a  good  guesser.  Referring  to  the  trial,  he  says, 
"  Every  right  was  preserved,  and  every  requirement  of  crim- 
inal law  lived  up  to."  What  about  that  "  Necessary  method  of 
interpreting  "  that  he  wrote  to  us  about  when  wc  were  trying 
to  get  a  new  trial?  Was  that  right  preserved,  and  was  that 
requirement  of  criminal  law  lived  up  to?  The  State's  attorney 
knows  that  it  was  not.  He  says,  ''Marl  the  defendant  even 
hinted  tliat  he  desired  some  one  especially  appointed  by  the 
court,  or  in  some  other  way  to  have  the  evidence  comnnuiicated 
to  him,  he  certainly  could  have  had  it,"  then  he  adds,  "  But 
such  a  demand,  would  have  been  nothing  short  of  ridiculous." 
How  is  that?  Ridiculous  for  a  deaf  man  to  want  to  know 
what  the  people  are  saying,  when  they  arc  talking  about  taking 
him  out  and  hanging  him?  I  guess  not.  If  the  State's  attorney 
was  being  tried  for  his  life,  wouldn't  he  want  to  know  what  was 
being  said  in  the  trial?  He  intimates  that  if  the  defendant  had 
even  hinted  to  him  that  he  would  like  to  know  what  the  wit- 
nesses were  saying  that  his  wishes  in  the  matter  would  have 
been  granted,  and  they  would  have  provided  the  "Necessary 
method  of  intcri)retation  "  for  him  at  once.  In  other  words 
if  this  deaf  old  blacksmith,  who  didn't  know  any  more  about 
law,  than  a  mule  knows  about  astronomy,  would  tell  the 
State's  attorney  what  the  law  is  in  regard  to  the  trial  of  a  deaf 
person,  and  a^k  him  to  observe  it  in  his  case,  that  he  would 
have  done  so.  Has  it  come  to  that?  Must  the  ])rivate  citizen 
who  in  this  case,  is  a  deaf  old  blacksmith,  nnt  only  know  what 
the  law  is.  l)ut  must  he  be  able  to  instruct  the  State's  attorney 
in  regard  to  it,  and  then  ask  him  if  he  won't  please  ai)ply  it 
in  his  case  ?    Felts  did  not  know  what  his  rights  were,  and  was 


of  George  W.  Felts  157 

afraid  to  open  his  mouth,  for  fear  he  would  be  taken  for  con- 
tempt of  court.  But  the  State's  attorney  was  expected  to  know 
what  the  prisoner's  rights  were,  and  to  see  that  he  got  them. 
What  else  is  he  paid  for,  but  to  look  after  the  people's  rights, 
under  the  law.  Then  he  says  "  During  which  time  we  stopped 
the  progress  of  the  trial,  at  any  time  the  defendant  so  desired, 
and  any,  or  all  of  them  would  talk  with  him,  consult  with  him, 
advise  with  him,  in  fact  he  was  better  and  more  thoroughly  in- 
formed, and  advised  of  what  was  being  said  and  done  in  court, 
and  its  legal  effect,  than  he  could  have  been,  had  every  ques- 
tion and  answer  been  written  out  for  him."  We  have  about 
one  hundred  witnesses  who  attended  the  trial,  many  of  them  all 
the  time,  and  the  others  a  part  of  the  time,  who  testify,  that 
the  court  was  never  stopped  for  the  purpose  of  communicating 
any  of  the  jiroceedings  of  the  trial  to  this  deaf  man,  while  they 
were  present.  His  friends  also  testified  that  they  never  com- 
municated anything  to  him  during  the  trial,  and  give  as  their 
reason  for  not  doing  so,  that  he  hears  so  imperfectly  even 
through  the  eartube,  that  they  would  have  been  compelled,  iti 
orded  to  make  him  hear,  to  talk  so  loud,  that  the  attention  of 
everybody  in  the  court  room  would  have  been  attracted  to  the 
performance,  so  they  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  do  anything  of 
the  kind,  unless  they  were  instructed  by  some  one  in  authority, 
to  do  so.  His  friends  thought  at  the  time,  that  it  was  a  mon- 
strous piece  of  injustice,  to  try  a  deaf  person,  and  not  com- 
municate to  him  the  proceedings,  as  the  trial  progressed  but 
they  did  not  know  until  after  the  trial  was  over,  that  it  was 
illegal,  to  try  a  deaf  person  in  that  way.  He  says,  "  In  my 
opinion,  the  scene  that  night  was  but  the  natural  conclusion  of 
years  of  idleness,  drunkenness,  and  quarreling."  Felts  did 
more  work  during  the  years  that  he  worked  at  the  blacksmith 
trade,  than  the  State's  attorney  would  do  in  a  hundred  years, 
if  he  sliould  live  that  long.  We  all  admit  that  Felts  drank 
some,  and  so  do  a  whole  lot  of  other  people,  and  some  of  them, 
even  among  those  who  blame  him  for  this  bad  habit  drink  more 
than  he  did.     But  Felts  was  not  a  common  drunkard,  as  the 


158  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

State's  attorney  would  have  us  believe.  In  fact  he  never  was 
lying  around  drunk,  but  on  the  contrary  was  always  ready  for 
business,  when  he  was  well  enough  to  work,  as  the  many  let- 
ters we  have  in  our  possession,  from  persons  who  have  been 
intimately  acquainted  with  him  for  many  years,  clearly  show. 
The  State's  attorney  tried  hard  to  establish  the  fact  that  Felts 
was  drunk,  the  night  of  the  trouble,  but  in  this  he  failed  en- 
tirely, as  the  court  record  shows.  The  trouble  can  be  traced 
directly  to  his  deafness,  and  his  defective  sight  and  the  dark- 
ness of  the  night,  and  not  to  any  drunkeimess  on  his  part.  If 
the  scene  that  night  was  the  natural  conclusion  of  years  of  idle- 
ness, drunkenness  and  quarreling,  how  is  it  that  Felts  had  never 
had  any  serious  trouble  before?  And  what  about  those  forty- 
one  leading  citizens  of  Durand  and  vicinity,  who  signed  a  state- 
ment that  I'elts  had  always  been  a  peaceable  law-abiding  citi- 
zen ever  since  lie  had  been  in  the  town ?  lie  passes  on  to  say, 
*'  It  happened  to  have  been  my  lot,  to  have  represented  George 
Felts,  in  one  or  two  civil  suits,  prior  to  this  homicide."  Why 
does  he  not  tell  us  whether  it  was  one  or  two?  He  must 
surely  know  which  it  is,  and  he  must  know,  that  two  is  just 
twice  as  many  as  one.  It  looks  a  little  suspicious  when  he 
states  it  in  that  way,  especially,  when  he  adds,  "  I  mention  this, 
for  the  purpose  of  showing,  that  I  am  well  acquainted  with 
him."  Then  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  I  have  known  him  at  least 
eight  years,  prior  to  this  night  in  question,  and  I  can  state  per- 
sonally, that  I  have  observed  him  many  times,  both  in  his  own 
town  of  Durand,  and  in  the  city  of  Rockford,  under  the  in- 
rtuence  of  liquor,  at  which  time,  he  would  be  boisterous,  noisy, 
and  a  veritable  nuisance."  Now  it  should  be  borne  in  mind 
that  r^lts  seldom  came  to  Rockford,  within  the  eight  years,  im- 
mediately preceding  his  arrest  and  imi^risomncnt,  and  is  it  not 
passing  strange,  that  the  State's  attorney  is  the  oidy  person  in 
this  fine  city,  that  should  ever  happen  to  sec  George  Felts  carry- 
ing on  in  tlie  manner  that  he  describes?  There  are  a  lot  of 
good  people  in  Rockford,  who  know  this  unfortunate  man,  and 
they  not  only  feel  sorry  for  him,  but  they  really  like  him,  and 


of  George  W.  Felts  159 

they  never  have  seen  him  when  he  was  in  one  of  his  drunken 
carousals,  stirring  up  the  city,  Hke  a  veritable  cow  boy  in  a 
western  town,  in  the  early  days.  How  docs  it  come  that  the 
State's  attorney  has  happened  to  see  Felts  in  his  own  native 
town  of  Durand  tearing  things  up  like  a  cyclone  so  many  times 
within  the  last  eight  years  immediately  preceding  his  arrest? 
What  is  there  in  that  ''  little  town  or  four  hundred  inhab- 
itants," as  he  calls  it,  to  take  him  up  there  so  often?  He  next 
proceeds  to  remark,  "  He  never  used  an  eartube,  until  within 
a  year  or  two  of  the  homicide."  This  gives  the  whole  thing 
away,  he  surely  has  some  one  else  in  mind.  Everybody  in  Dur- 
and. and  quite  a  few  people  in  Rockford,  know  that  Felts  has 
used  an  eartube  for  a  great  many  years.  He  has  carried  the 
l)re.scnt  eartube  for  at  least  ten  years  before  this  trouble  came 
upon  him,  and  before  that,  he  used  an  old  tin  tube  for  a  good 
many  years.  To  my  certain  knowledge,  he  has  used  an  eartube 
for  the  last  tlfteen  or  twenty  years.  In  making  this  last  state- 
ment about  the  eartube,  he  is  evidently  paving  jthe  way  for  what 
follows,  '*  I  believe  he  heard  a  great  deal  more  of  the  trial,  than 
he  would  now  admit.  I  recall  vividly  upon  finishing  my  clos- 
ing argument  to  the  jury,  a  little  incident  that  convinced  me  of 
this  fact.  The  court  room  was  packed  to  suffocation.  It 
had  been  a  long  tedious  trial  lasting  two  weeks.  People  from 
the  community  for  miles  around  attended  the  trial.  Upon  re- 
tiring from  the  table,  I  felt  some  one  take  a  hold  of  my  hand, 
as  I  was  edging  my  way  through  the  crowd.  I  looked  around, 
ami  the  defendant  George  Felts  had  me  by  the  hand,  and  re- 
marked, "  You  gave  it  to  me  pretty  hard  Harry,  and  I  am  go- 
ing to  have  you  for  my  lawyer  next  time."  "  I  replied,"  "  Then 
you  heard  me  did  you  George?"  He  smiled  and  made  no  fur- 
ther rci)ly."  I  have  set  out  this  quotation  at  length,  because 
it  is  a  particular  favorite  of  the  State's  attorney,  and  it  should 
therefore  be  given  special  consideration.  He  rolls  it  under  his 
tongue,  as  a  sweet  morsel,  and  uses  it  on  all  occasions,  both 
public  and  private.  He  does  not  always  tell  it  exactly  alike,  but 
no  matter,  it  always  fits  the  case,  and  is  a  good  story  well  told. 


160  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

When  he  told  it  before  Judge  Landis,  in  the  Federal  Court  in 
Chicago,  he  had  I'elts  say,  "  You  went  for  me  pretty  lively  to 
dav,  the  next  time  I  get  into  any  trouble,  1  am  going  to  have 
you  for  my  lawyer."  P.efore  the  lioard  of  Pardons,  he  had 
him  say  it  this  way,  **  You  gave  it  to  me  pretty  hard  Harry,  and 
I  am  going  to  have  you  for  my  lawyer  next  time."  There 
isn't  much  difference  after  all,  and  everybody  who  was  present 
knows  nothing  of  the  kind  ever  happened,  anyway.  I'Vlts  never 
heard  one  word  of  the  vilhfication  and  abuse  that  the  State's 
attorney  heaped  ui)on  liim.  on  that  occasion,  but  if  he  had,  why 
should  he  smile  and  compliment  him  for  misrepresenting  him. 
and  slandering  liim  as  he  did?  I  have  in  my  ])ossession,  copies 
of  nine  affidavits  from  reputable  people,  saying  that  they  were 
present  and  right  near  l'\'Us  on  that  occasion  and  tliat  the\ 
know  no  such  incident  as  the  State's  attorney  refers  to  in 
his  statement  to  the  Board  of  Pardons,  ever  hai)pened.  (^ne 
of  these  nine  engaged  I'clts  in  conversation  himself 
through  his  eartube  as  soon  as  the  court  adjourned  for  tlie  da} . 
and  kept  riglu  on  talking  with  him  until  the  court  rcK)m  was 
cleared,  and  tlie  sheritT  took  Kelts  back  to  jail.  Here  is  a  sam- 
l)k'.  "He  was  a  giant  in  strength,  and  proud  of  it."  I'elts 
weighed  157  pounds  at  the  lime  of  his  arrest,  and  had 
been  a  constant  sufferer  from  rheumatism  and  heart  trouble  for 
years.  He  was  not  able  to  do  much  hard  work,  and  he  had  not 
been  in  the  i)rison  a  great  wliile.  before  he  was  excused  from 
all  kinds  of  work,  that  recjuired  nuicli  physical  strength,  and 
yet  this  State's  attorney  represents  him  to  be  a  sort  of  Jim 
JetTries,  or  John  L.  Sullivan.  Is  it  not  strange?  Then  he  say><. 
"  When  under  the  influence  of  liquor,  he  oftentimes  would  in- 
sist on  measuring  strength  with  others,  slapping  people  on  the 
back,  as  he  went  along,  cutting  in  among  different  people,  who 
percliance  would  stand  on  the  streets  of  Durand,  in  conversa- 
tion, until  they  all  became  sick,  tired  and  disgusted  with  him. 
He  was  known  there  as  a  common  nuisance,  if  such  a  thine; 
could  apply  to  a  man."  What  a  shame,  for  an  officer  of  the 
law,  to  so  vilely  slander  an  old  deaf  Union  soldier,  who  is  al- 


of  George  W.  Felts  161 

ready  in  prison,  because  he  was  taken  through  his  trial  without 
knowing  what  the  witnesses  said  against  him,  and  because  he 
did  not  know,  on  account  of  his  infirmity,  that  important  evi- 
dence was  left  out,  that  woukl  have  established  his  innocence. 
It  is  another  case  of  kicking  a  man  because  he  is  down.  He 
represents  this  deaf  old  man,  as  a  sort  of  a  pugilist,  going 
u\)  and  down  the  streets  of  Durand,  poking  his  nose  in  to  every- 
l)ody's  business,  tryiug  to  see  if  he  couldn't  get  up  a  fight,  on 
all  occasions.  Why  didn't  he  put  boxing  gloves  on  him,  while 
lie  was  about  it,  and  tell  us  of  a  great  many  encounters  in 
which  Felts  had  (Hstinguished  himself,  as  a  prize  fighter? 
Xothing  could  be  further  from  the  truth,  than  the  foregoing 
statement,  and  it  makes  me  "  Sick,  tired,  and  disgusted,"  to 
think  that  an  officer  who  pretends  to  be  looking  after  the  in- 
terest of  the  people,  should  falsely  accuse  one  of  the  most  help- 
less persons  in  all  his  jurisdiction.  Felts  is  naturally  retiring 
in  his  disposition,  as  everyone  knows,  who  is  acquainted  with 
him.  And  I  never  knew  before  that  a  man  is  to  be  put  down  as 
a  nuisance,  simply  because  he  is  too  deaf  to  hear,  and  too  much 
broken  in  health  to  do  a  great  deal  of  work.  What  are  we 
coming  to?  Is  there  no  justice,  humanity  or  truthfulness  left? 
lie  says  to  the  Pardon  Board,  "  I  am  informed  that  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Wiseman,  have  presented  to  your  honorable  Board  a 
petition,  signed  by  many  hundreds,  and  perhaps  thousands  of 
l)eople,  from  Winnebago  County,  Lee  County,  and  other  coun- 
ties, and  states,  perhaps."  Yes,  there  were  nearly  six  thou- 
sand petitioners  from  Winnebago  County  alone,  asking  for  the 
pardon  of  George  W.  Felts.  And  the  number  could  have  been 
doubled  or  trebled,  easily,  if  we  only  could  have  seen  the 
l)eople.  Many  have  spoken  to  us,  in  regard  to  the  matter,  re- 
gretting that  they  did  not  have  an  opportunity  to  sign  the  paper 
before  we  sent  it  away.  I  am  also  informed  that  Lee  County 
sent  in  a  good  strong  petition,  asking  for  the  release  of  the 
prisoner,  but  how  many  names  there  were  on  that  petition,  is 
more  than  I  am  able  to  tell.  Petitions  were  also  sent  in  from 
other  counties,  all  over  the  state.    For  anything  I  know  to  the 


162  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

contrary,  every  county  in  the  state  may  have  been  represented 
by  a  petition.  I  do  know  that  in  some  of  the  smaller  townb 
ct  six  and  eight  hundre<l,  the  petitions  were  so  large,  that  it 
seemed  to  me  that  every  man  in  these  respective  places,  must 
have  signed.  They  did  not  ask  the  women  and  children  to  sign, 
only  voters,  and  in  one  little  town  of  six  hundred,  down  in  the 
central  part  of  the  state,  they  sent  in  a  petition  with  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two  names  on  it.  One  railroad  man  in  Chicago, 
sent  in  a  petition,  signed  by  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  per- 
sons, all  of  whom  were  railroad  men.  The  loyal  people,  of  this 
great  State  of  Illinois,  do  not  believe  in  trying  an  old  deaf  sol- 
dier, or  any  other  deaf  person  for  that  matter,  as  George  W. 
Felts  was  tried.  But,  so  far  as  I  know,  no  one  outside  of  the 
State  of  Illinois,  signed  our  petition.  We  met  a  great  many 
people,  from  different  states,  when  we  were  circulating  the 
petition  in  the  city  of  Rock  ford,  who  would  gladly  have  given 
us  their  names,  but  in  every  instance  as  soon  as  we  found  out 
that  the  person  resided  in  some  other  state  we  told  him  he  was 
not  eligible,  as  we  were  taking  the  names  of  those  only,  who  re- 
sided in  Illinois.  Can  as  much  be  said  for  those  who  got  up 
the  remonstrance?  How  about  Mrs.  D.B.  Lane?  Does  she  live 
in  Illinois  or  Pennsylvania?  And  Mrs.  A.  C.  Wilcox,  of  Boone, 
Iowa?  And  do  not  C.  R.  Stewart  and  H.  Walker,  both  live  in 
iowa  ? 

He  says  he  drafted  suitable  petitions  of  protest,  and  put 
them  in  the  hands  of  Mrs.  Post,  ''  and  she  took  them  out,  and  al- 
though feeble  as  she  is,  she  procured  several  hundred  names 
from  those  who  knew  George  Felts.''  In  his  oral  address  before 
the  Board  of  Pardons, he  represented  that  Mrs.  Post  was  old  and 
feeble,  and  not  able  to  do  much,  and  that  she  simply  saw  the 
people  as  they  happened  to  come  in  her  way.  This  does  not 
harmonize  with  the  reports  that  have  come  to  me.  I  have  been 
told  that  she  not  only  did  a  good  deal  of  hard  work  herself,  but 
that  she  was  ably  assisted  by  a  number  of  friends,  some  of  whom 
lived  in  the  vicinity  of  Durand,  and  others  lived  out  east  of 
Rockford  I  think.     The   remonstrance  was  circulated  pretty 


of  George  W.  Felts  163 

generally  all  over  the  county,  and  has  names  on  it,  not  only 
from  Durand,  but  also  from  Rockford,  Pecatonica,  Winnebago, 
Laona,  Harrison,  Rockton,  Cherry  Valley,  and  Guilford.  To 
my  certain  knowledge  there  were  four  strong  men,  who  helped 
circulate  the  remonstrance,  all  of  whom  were  related  to  the  de- 
ceased. In  Rockford -where  the  trial  was  held, 'and  the  State's 
attorney  admits,  as  we  have  already  shown,  that  there  were 
thousands  of  people  in  attendance,  there  are  only  fifty-seven 
names  on  the  remonstrance,  made  up  for  the  most  part,  from 
the  force  in  the  State's  attorney's  office,  and  the  relatives  and 
friends  of  the  deceased.  He  says,  "  Durand  does  not  want 
him  released."  That  depends  on  what  you  call  Durand.  If 
the  borders  of  that  village  extend  all  the  way  from  Pennsyl- 
vania to  Iowa,  then  I  am  sure  the  State's  attorney  is  mistaken, 
when  he  says  Durand  does  not  want  him  released.  Nearly 
everybody  included  in  that  vast  territory,  who  knows  anything 
about  the  case,  wants  George  Felts  released,  because  they  do 
not  think  he  was  tried  as  a  deaf  person  ought  to  be.  But  if 
we  are  to  understand  that  Durand  includes  the  territory  in  all 
directions  from  the  village  to  the  distance  of  about  six  or  eight 
miles,  as  the  names  on  the  remonstrance,  that  are  markfed 
Durand,  would  indicate,  then,  we  have  just  about  as  many 
Durand  names  on  our  petition,  as  the  State's  attorney  has  on 
his  remonstrance.  So  far  as  the  village  of  Durand  itself  is 
concerned  we  never. made  a  personal  canvass  of  it,  having  been 
warned  by  the  State's  attorney,  that  it  would  not  be  safe  for  us 
to  do  so.  We  could  not  see  why  the  people  of  that  town  should 
have  it  in  for  us,  for  doing  what  we  believed  was  our  duty,  still 
wc  did  not  care  to  run  into  trouble,  never  having  been  in  any 
before  in  all  our  lives,  and  so  we  decided,  so  far  as  we  were 
personally  concerned,  to  turn  the  people  of  that  "  little  town  of 
about  four  hundred  inhabitants,"  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of 
the  State's  attorney,  and  depend  on  friends  sending  in  the 
names  of  those  who  were  in  favor  of  taking  Felts  out  of  the 
prison.  After  all  we  have  more  names  on  our  petition  from 
the  little  village  of  Durand,  than  he  has  on  his  remonstrance 


164  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

in  the  city  of  Rockford,  where  the  trial  was  held,  and  where 
this  great  State's  attorney  '*  lives,  and  moves,  and  has  his 
being."  Besides  the  people  of  Durand  did  not  know  about  the 
new  evidence  that  has  been  submitted  to  the  Board  of  Pardons 
in  this  case,  when  they  signed  that  remonstrance,  or  many  of 
them  never  would  have  done  so.  I  am  charitable  enough  to  be- 
lieve, that  the  people  of  that  town,  in  common  with  the  people 
everywhere  want  to  c\o  what  is  right,  in  all  such  matters.  But 
they  should  remember  that  they  were  not  present  when 
Spencer  Post  was  stabbed,  and  that  the  witnesses  who  were 
present  and  testified  in  the  case,  do  not  have  as  good  a  reputa- 
tion for  truth  and  veracity  as  George  Washington  had,  and  be- 
sides one  of  them  has  said  that  they  "  were  all  so  drunk,  that 
they  didn't  any  of  them  know  what  happened." 

But  the  State's  attorney  makes  a  bad  break,  when  he  says, 
"  The  people  of  Winnebago  County,  do  not  want  him  re- 
leased." How  does  he  know  ?  He  is  not  the  whole  county.  Be- 
sides the  way  the  people  of  Rockford,  and  the  smaller  towns, 
and  villages,  as  well  as  the  people  of  the  country  districts 
signed  our  petition  as  soon  as  opportunity  was  given  them  to 
do  so,  we  would  naturally  infer  that  the  people  of  this  grand 
old  county,  do  want  I'elts  taken  out  of  the  prison.  Then  he 
says,  "  I  have  had  a  great  many  people  come  to  me,  and  vol- 
unteer the  statement,  that  they  had  signed  the  petition  of 
George  Felts,  and  did  it  not  knowing  the  facts.  That  it  had 
been  represented  to  them,  that  the  mother  of  Spencer  Post 
was  asking  for  his  release,  and  in  fact,  I  am  informed,  that 
there  are  names  on  the  protest  petition,  which  appear  on  the 
])etition  for  release.  Those  people  who  signed  both,  being  so 
indignant  at  the  misrepresentations  made  to  them."  Why  did 
not  those  indignant  persons  come  to  us,  instead  of  going  to  the 
State's  attorney?  We  would  have  been  glad  to  take  their 
names  off  the  petition,  if  they  were  not  satisfied.  We  are  not 
doing  any  '*  slick  business,"  as  the  State's  attorney  would  like 
to  make  the  Pardon  Board  believe.  Who  are  these  dissatis- 
fied persons,  anyway?     We  have  seen  nothing  of  them.     On 


of  George  W.  Felts  165 

the  contrary,  everyone  we  meet,  almost,  stops  us  to  ask  what 
the  prospects  are,  for  getting  that  deaf  old  man  out  of  the 
l^rison,  who  was  taken  through  his  trial,  without  knowing  any 
of  the  proceedings  as  the  trial  progressed.  I  don't  remember 
anyone  ever  speaking  to  us  about  Mrs.  Post  in  connection  with 
the  jjetition,  but  I  distinctly  remember  that  a  good  many  peo- 
ple wanted  to  know  why  the  State's  attorney  was  putting  up 
^ucli  a  stiff  fight  to  keep  this  deaf  old  soldier  in  the  prison. 
Onitc  a  few  names  that  were  on  both  papers,  found  their  way 
on  to  the  remonstrance  first,  and  afterwards  got  on  to  the  peti- 
tion, and  have  stayed  there  ever  since.  Here  is  a  statement 
that  reveals  the  stupendous  egotism  of  the  State's  attorney,  not 
to  say  any  thing  about  his  everlasting  meanness,  "  It  is  not 
I  fact,  as  I  firmly  believe,  that  his  loss  of  hearing  can  in  any 
way  be  attributed  to  any  of  his  army  experiences."  What  has 
his  //r;;i  belief  got  to  do  with  it.  ?  Does  he  know  more  about  it 
than  Col.  Bryan  who  was  Felts'  captain?  Bryan  who  knew  him 
well  before  he  went  into  the  army,  and  kept  up  his  acquaint- 
ance with  him  all  the  time  during  his  army  service,  and  visited 
him  often  in  the  hospital,  when  he  was  sick,  says,  that  he  lost 
his  hearing  in  the  service  of  his  country.  But  no,  says  this 
young  State's  attorney,  Col.  Brj'an  is  wrong.  But  he  doesn't 
stop  there.  Uncle  Sam.  has  been  giving  this  old  soldier  a  pen- 
sion for  over  twenty  years  for  total  deafness  in  one  ear,  and 
severe  deafness  in  the  other,  and  says  that  he  is  doing  so  to  re- 
ward the  old  patriot,  in  a  measure,  for  the  loss  he  sustained,  by 
losing  his  hearing  in  the  service  of  his  country.  But  the  State's 
attorney  notifies  Uncle  Sam  that  he  is  mistaken,  and  to  prove 
lis  ])osition,  says  that  he  was  with  him  in  a  law  suit  only  about 
eight  years  before  he  was  sent  to  the  prison,  and  that  he  did 
not  have  any  occasion  to  use  his  eartube  when  they  questioned 
him  on  the  witness  stand.  But  Uncle  Sam  will  not  be  deceived 
in  that  sort  of  a  way,  and  will  go  right  on  paying  this  deaf  old 
soldier  a  pension,  because  he  carefully  looked  up  the  record  in 
tlie  case,  something  that  the  State's  attorney  seldom  does.  Then 
he  tells  us  of  a  remarkable  little  incident  that  I  am  satisfied  never 


166  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

happened,  while  the  trial  was  going  on.  "I  well  recall  however  a 
group  of  old  soldiers,  standing  on  the  corner,  when  I  was  at- 
tempting to  get  a  jury,  and  one  of  them  remarked,  with  the 
assent  and  approval  of  the  others,  that  his  old  soldier  friends, 
believed  that  he  should  be  punished  to  the  fullest  extent  of  the 
law,  for  this  act.  And  one  of  them  ventured  the  remark  fur- 
ther, that  he  believed  that  I  would  be  entirely  safe,  in  trying 
him  with  twelve  old  soldiers  on  the  jury,  and  that  he  would 
be  convicted  and  punished,  perhaps  more  severly  than  he  was." 
This  "  Sop  "  to  the  old  soldiers  does  not  come  with  very  good 
grace,  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  State's  attorney  was  very 
persistent  in  the  selection  of  the  jury  in  ascertaining  whether 
they  had  any  near  relations  that  were  soldiers  in  the  Union 
Army.  Of  course  the  interests  of  the  people,  and  of  the  prisoner 
would  be  safe,  with  ajury  made  up  of  veterans  of  the  Civil  War, 
but  they  would  not  agree  to  convict  any  one  before  hearing  the 
evidence  in  the  case,  as  the  State's  attorney  would  have  the 
Pardon  Board  believe,  and  especially  would  they  not  promise 
to  give  a  comrade  a  more  severe  punishment,  than  a  life  sen- 
tence, before  they  had  thoroughly  investigated  the  matter. 
What  does  he  mean  when  he  says,  **  One  of  them  ventured  the 
remark,  that  I  would  be  entirely  safe,  in  trying  him  with  twelve 
old  soldiers  on  the  jury."  The  State's  attorney  has  himself  in 
mind.  He  may  have  been  thinking  of  his  reputation  as  a  law- 
yer, or  the  twenty  dollars  he  -would  get  in  case  of  a  conviction, 
but  why  should  he  not  give  at  least  one  thought,  to  this  helpless 
old  man,  who  lost  his  hearing  in  the  service  of  his  country.  He 
says,  "  There  seems  to  be  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Wise- 
man and  his  wife,  to  make  a  personal  attack  on  me."  Oh  no. 
We  are  simply  trying  to  get  our  brother  out  of  the  prison  and 
would  be  glad  to  let  him  alone,  if  he  would  get  out  of  our  way 
He  says,  "  He  has  no  personal  feeling  in  the  matter."  Why 
then  is  he  not  willing  that  this  deaf  old  man,  should  have  a  new 
trial,  where  the  evidence  about  the  condition  of  his  neck,  when 
he  entered  the  jail,  could  be  considered?  Referring  to  Mrs. 
Wiseman  and  myself,  he  says,  "  They  have  spent  a  small  for- 


of  George  W.  Felts  167 

tune  on  behalf  of  Geo.  Felts.  That  dependes  on  what  he  calls  a 
small  fortune.  I  suppose  that  the  widow's  mite  spoken  of  in  the 
New  Testament,  was  a  small  fortune  to  her.  We  have  spent  all 
the  spare  money  we  had  by  us,  when  this  trouble  came  on.  Be- 
sides Mrs.  Wiseman  has  put  the  price  of  her  winter  home  iu 
the  South,  into  it,  and  I  have  borrowed  six  hundred  dollars  on 
my  life  insurance.  But  that  is  not  all.  We  have  lived  on  two 
meals  a  day,  when  we  could  not  afford  to  pay  for  three.  We 
have  walked,  when  we  could  not  afford  to  ride,  and  that  too. 
through  rain,  and  snow,  and  mud,  as  well  as  dust  and  heat.  But 
we  are  not  bankrupt.  We  still  have  a  few  things  left.  In  the  first 
place,  we  have  a  clear  conscience,  for  we  have  done  what  we  be- 
lieve to  have  been  our  duty,  and  that  is  worth  a  good  deal.  In 
the  second  place,  our  health  has  been  preserved,  for  which  we 
thank  the  Lord,  and  take  courage.  And  third,  we  have  many 
friends,  which  is  a  source  of  great  strength,  and  comfort  to 
us.  And  fourth,  we  believe  that  all  things  work  together  for 
good,  to  them  that  love  God.  And  we  are  as  sure  as  we  live, 
that  we  do  love  him,  and  that  He  loves  us,  in  spite  of  our  faults 
and  our  frailties.  And  so  we  are  not  complaining  of  our  lo: 
but  on  the  contrary,  we  would  do  the  same  thin^  over  again,  as 
we  have  done  in  tlic  George  T^-lt^  ^a^c,  should  tho  opoortnnitv 
return  to  us. 

He  says,  *'  T^or  two  years,  they  have  tried  in  a  systematic 
way,  to  create  a  strong  sentiment  in  behalf  of  the  defendant." 
This  is  not  true.  We  were  not  even  in  the  county  until  the 
30th  day  of  last  May,  at  which  time  we  came  to  Rockford  and 
began  circulating  a  petition  for  pardon,  and  we  have  been  out 
of  the  county  at  least  half  of  the  time  since  then.  Before  that 
time,  we  made  our  headquarters  in  Chicago,  and  were  trying 
to  secure  the  prisoner's  release  on  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  be- 
cause he  is  deaf  and  none  of  the  proceedings  of  the  trial  were 
communicated  to  him  while  the  trial  was  in  progress.  *'  They 
have  made  many  affidavits,  charging  me  with  different  things, 
that  I  cannot  now  take  time  to  enumerate."  If  he  does  net  have 
the  time  to  tell  the  Board  what  the  affidavits  are  about,  what 


IGS  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

good  (Iocs  it  do  to  say  anything  al)out  them  at  all?  lie  says 
immediately  following  '*  I  believe  that  this  matter  has  l)ecomc 
a  mon-omania  with  IxUh  of  them."  What  does  he  refer  to? 
The  matter  of  making  aftidavils  aj^ainM  him?  Oh  no,  brother 
life  is  too  short,  and  too  precious  to  sikmuI  it  in  that  way.  We 
have  made  ju>t  as  few  atVidavits  against  him,  as  the  circum- 
stances in  the  case  would  admit.  Then  he  says  "  Tiiey  do 
nothing,  and  talk  nothing,  but  this  case."  Well,  that  is  the  way 
to  succeed,  when  a  jktsou  has  an  im|K)rlant  matter  on  hand. 
That  is  the  way  the  AjKJStlc  Paul  said  he  did.  And  Grant  said 
he  would  take  \'icksburg,  if  it  icnyk  all  summer.  I  .started  in 
to  get  (ieorge  l*\'lts  out  of  the  prison,  Ix-cause  I  honestly  be- 
lieved that  he  was  guilty  of  no  intentional  crime,  and  1  still  be- 
lieve so,  then,  why  should  I  relax  my  efforts  in  his  behalf. 

The  fact  is.  I  never  expect  to  stop,  until  I  have  vin«licatcd 
this  old  soldier,  in  the  minds  of  all  candid  thinking  people. 
Then  he  says,  **  They  have  been  for  months  alK)ut  the  streets  of 
RcK'kford,  and  other  places,  with  their  pa|)ers,  arguing  talking, 
<liscussing.  what  they  iKdievc  to  be  an  injustice  done  to  this  de- 
fendant." I  plead  guilty  to  the  charge.  I  do  believe  that  a 
great  injustice  lias  been  done  to  the  defendant,  and  I  have  had 
the  courage  to  say  so,  both  publicly,  and  privately.  Then  he 
adds,  "  Naturally,  they  would  feel  this  way,  for  blood  runs 
thicker  than  water."  I  do  not  deny,  that  I  think  a  goo'J 
deal  of  the  honor  and  reputation  of  my  wife's  jxrople,  and  what 
is  more,  1  do  not  think  very  much  of  a  man  who  clocs  not  stand 
by  his  relations  when  they  arc  in  trouble  and  need  his  help.  But 
1  want  it  distinctly  understood,  that  I  am  a  law-abiding  Ameri- 
can citizen,  and  if  George  Felts  had  been  given  a  fair  trial, 
that  is,  if  the  proceedings  had  been  communicated  to  him,  as 
the  trial  progressed,  and  the  evidence  alK)ut  the  condition  of 
his  neck,  wlien  he  entered  the  jail,  had  l>cen  given  to  the  jury, 
and  they  had  found  him  guilty,  1  would  have  taken  my  medicine, 
and  pursued  an  entirely  different  course  from  what  I  have,  un- 
der the  present  circumstances.  I  believe  in  giving  everylK>dy  a 
fair  chance,  when  he  is  on  trial  for  his  life,  and  I  claim  that  if 


of  George  W.  Felts  169 

the  prisoner  d-jcs  not  know  what  the  witnesses  say  against  him, 
as  the  trial  procuresses,  that  he  canrtot  make  an  intelligent  de- 
fense, and  I  bcheve  that  every  fair  minded  American  citizen, 
will  agree  with  me,  in  what  I  say,  in  regard  to  this  matter.  I 
would  lift  my  voice  against  such  injustice,  if  it  were  practiced 
upon  the  worst  enemy  I  have  in  all  this  broad  land.  It  is  not 
simply  a  matter  of  relationship,  but  it  is  a  matter  of  justice, 
and  injustice.  A  matter  of  right  and  wrong.  A  matter  of 
**  H>iual  rights,  and  equal  protection  "for  every  man,  woman, 
and  chihl  under  the  flag.  The  State's  attorney  then  says  by  way 
of  apology,  **  In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  say,  that  I  have  prepared 
the  statement  hurriedly,  and  largely  from  memory."  It  was 
Bot  at  all  necessary  for  him  to  go  to  the  trouble  of  telling  us 
that  he  had  prepared  his  paper  in  a  hurry,  for  anyone  with  half 
an  eye  can  sec,  that  he  has  thrown  things  together  in  any  sort 
of  a  way,  without  much  reference  to  the  facts  in  the  case.  But 
what  kind  of  a  way  is  that  for  a  man  to  do,  when  he  is  offi- 
cially I<»oking  after  the  interests  of  the  people?  Has  he  the 
right  to  weave  such  a  mess  of  fabrication  into  an  official  docn- 
menl.  and  present  it  to  the  Board  of  Pardons  as  the  God's 
truth.  an<l  then  try  to  smooth  it  all  over  right  at  the  last,  by 
tclhiig  them  he  fiixed  the  whole  thing  up  in  a  hurry?  This  is  an 
important  matter,  then,  why  didn't  he  take  plenty  of  time? 
Why  should  he  prepare  such  a  mess  in  a  hurry?  He  says  he 
got  it  up  largely  from  memory.  I  think  he  is  mistaken  in  the 
faculty  that  he  used.  I  have  always  heard  it  called  the  imagin- 
ation. 

Then  he  says,  referring  to  Felts,  "  Perhaps  he  did  not  in- 
tend to  kill  Si>enccr  Post.  I  could  readily  assent  to  that  prop- 
osition, but  he  certainly  did  intend  to  strike  him."  Why  strike 
a  friend  ?  Would  there  not  be  great  danger  to  a  broken  down 
old  man  like  Felts,  in  making  such  an  attack  on  a  great  strong 
man  like  Post?  Would  Felts  make  such  an  attack,  if  he  was  in 
his  right  mind  ?  Why  did  not  Post  immediately  resent  the  attack, 
if  it  was  brought  on  him  unprovoked,  while  he  was  leaning  up 
against  the  .saloon  building?   Why  did  he  not  hurl  bitter  epithets 


170  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

at  Felts,  after  the  crowd  gathered  ?  These  are  a  few  of  the  many 
questions,  that  it  would  be  well  for  the  State's  attorney  to  con- 
sider, in  connection  with  this  case.    Felts  says  that  someone 
had  him  by  the  neck  in  the  dark,  and  that  he  did  not  know  who 
he  was,  and  he  thought  the  man  was  going  to  do  him  great 
bodily  harm,  and  he  tried  to  prick  his  leg  with  his  knife,  to  make 
him  let  go  of  his  neck,  but  that  he  never  thought  of  killing  the 
man,  and  that  if  he  had  known  he  was  Spencer  Post,  he  would 
not  have  used  his  knife  at  all,  as  they  were  the  best  of  friends. 
When  you  consider  that  Felts  is  deaf,  and  that  he  is  old,  and 
his  eyes  are  defective,  and  the  night  was  dark,  there  being  no 
moon  that  night,  and  no  lights  under  the  awning  where  it  hap- 
pened, nor  in  the  streets  anywhere  near  there,' and  that  his  neck 
was  marked  and  bruised  and  swollen,  when  he  entered  the  jail, 
docs  not  his  story  seem  to  be  reasonable,  and  conclusive?  Un- 
der the  circumstances,  do  you  wonder  that  nine  of  the  jurors 
who  tried  Felts,  after  seeing  the  new  evidence,  have  asked  the 
Board  of  Pardons,  and  the  Governor,  to  release  this  deaf  old 
soldier  from  the  prison?     And  several  of  them,  have  written 
the  Governor  that  if  the  evidence  that  has  been  submitted  to 
the  Board  of  Pardons  in  this  case,  had  been  submitted  to  them 
in  the  trial  court,  they  would  have  considered  that  Felts  acted 
in  self  defense,  and  would  have  voted  for  acquittal.     Would 
the  State's  attorney  keep  this  deaf  old  soldier  in  the  prison, 
after  quite  a  few  of  the  jurors  have  said  over  their  own  sig- 
natures, that  they  never  would  have  sent  him,    if    they    had 
known  all  the  facts  in  the  case?    I  have  been  compelled,  owing 
to  the  brief  space  that  I  could  give  to  this  review,  in  tliis  small 
book,  to  pass  by  many  things  that  otherwise,  I   would  have 
been  glad  to  notice.    I  think  however  that  I  have  said  enough 
to  convince  my  readers  that  George  I'elts  is  suffering  a  most 
bitter    and    cruel    persecution,  at  the  hands  of  this  relentless 
State's  attorney.    Do  the  people  of  Winnebago  County  want  its 
deaf  and  helpless  citizens,  not  to  say  anything  about  the  old 
soldier,  who  lost  his  hearing  in  the  service  of  his  country,  taken 
through  their  trials  and  sentenced    to    life    imprisonment,    as 


of  George  W.  Felts  171 

George  Felts  was  ?  Do  the  people  of  Durand  want  to  back  the 
State's  attorney,  in  the  record  that  he  is  making  in  this  case? 
I  ain  sure  that  a  great  many  people  in  that  vicinity,  when  they 
read  this  book,  will  not  blame  us  for  making  the  hard  fight  for 
justice  that  we  are  making.  And  if  it  was  your  brother,  and 
he  had  been  taken  through  his  trial  without  knowing  what  the 
witnesses  said  against  him,  and  if  important  evidence,  that 
would  have  established  his  innocence,  had  been  left  out  and  be- 
cause of  his  infirmity  of  deafness  he  did  not  know  anything 
about  it  until  after  the  trial  was  over,  would  you  not  feel  as  I 
do,  that  a  great  injustice  had  been  done?  And  would  you  not 
put  forth  ceaseless  and  earnest  efforts  to  remedy,  at  least  in  a 
measure  the  wrongs  that  had  been  done?  Remember  we  are 
asking  for  justice,  under  the  law  and  the  constitution  of  the 
State,  and  of  the  United  States,  and  that  we  need  your  help  and 
sympathy.  The  people  are  moving  in  this  matter  all  over  this 
great  state,  and  demanding  that  justice  shall  be  meted  out  to 
this  deaf  old  soldier. 


172 


Trial  and  Imprisonmeni 


W.  A.  WISEMAN. 
Who  has  Felts'  Power  of  Attorney. 


of  George  W.  Felts  173 

In  order  that  the  people  who  read  this  book  may  know 
who  we  are,  the  writer  of  this  note  desires  modestly  to  say,  that 
he  passed  regularly  through  the  Des  Moines  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  That  he  served  several  churches 
in  that  conference,  in  the  capacity  of  a  pastor,  among  them 
Grace  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Des  Aloines,  Iowa.  For 
the  last  fifteen  years  he  has  been  before  the  people  in  a  public 
cai)acity,  both  as  lecturer  and  evangelist,  and  has  lectured  and 
preached  in  thirty-five  states  and  territories  of  the  United 
States,  and  has  spoken  during  that  time,  in  nearly  all  the  large 
cities  of  tlie  country.  He  submits  below,  a  few,  of  the  many 
notices  from  the  press  and  the  pulpit,  that  he  has  in  his  poses- 
sion,  in  regard  to  his  work. 

Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  gave  a  powerful  and  eloquent  ad- 
dress, at  Raper  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  last  night,  to  a. 
crowded  house,  on  the  Universal  Conquest  of  the  World  by  the 
Christian  Religion. — Dayton  Herald,  Ohio. 

Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  proved  himself  to  be  an  eloquent 
speaker,  and  fully  abreast  of  the  thought  of  the  day. — lozva 
State  Register,  Des  Moines. 

Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  is  attracting  a  large  audience  to 
the  meetings.  He  is  an  eloquent  speaker,  and  an  evangelist  of 
rare  gifts  and  ability,  and  is  eminently  successful  in  this  depart- 
ment of  church  work. — St.  Peter  Tribune,  St.  Peter,  Minn. 

Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman,  the  eloquent  preacher  from  Des 
Moines,  Iowa,  occupied  the  pulpit  at  Snyder  Memorial  Meth- 
odist Church  yesterday  morning  and  evening,  and  was  greeted 
by  large  audiences. — The  Metropolis,  Jacksonville,  Florida. 

**  Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  preached  two 
excellent  sermons  at  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  yester- 
day. He  is  a  very  enthusiastic  and  entertaining  speaker." — 
Rays  of  Light,  North  Manchester,  Ind. 

"  Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman,  occupied  the  pulpit  at  the  Alethodist 
Episcopal  Church  at  eleven  a.  m.  and  seven-thirty  p.  m.  Sun- 
day.   Dr.  Wiseman  is  a  very  able  preacher,  and  made  a  fine  im- 


174  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

pression  on  his  hearers,  who  will  welcome  his  return  at  any 
time." — Constitution,  Keokuk,  Iowa. 

*'  Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  one  of  the  most  successful  workers 
in  the  state,  is  aiding  Rev.  \'^edder  in  the  revival  meeting"  at 
the  first  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Mr.  Wiseman  is  a  very 
able  speaker,  and  those  who  heard  his  sermon  last  night,  will 
long  remember  it  for  its  power  and  real  helpfulness  to  christian 
life." — Daily  Nezvs,  Boone,  loiva. 

"  Dr.  Wiseman  is  a  practical,  successful  man,  worthy  of 
full  confidence."— Rev.  C.  H.  Fowler,  D.D.,  L.L.D.  Bishop  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

**  I  remember  very  well  our  friendship,  and  am  glad  to 
know  of  the  good  work  you  are  doing." — Hon.  ]\\  P.  Ilcpbtirn, 
Member  of  Congress,  U.S.A. 

*'  I  have  known  Rev.  W.  A.Wiseman  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa, 
for  twenty  years.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  the  highest  integrity, 
with  a  personal  character  above  reproach.  I  have  heard  him 
frequently  in  public  addresses.  He  is  always  interesting,  enter- 
taining, and  eloquent." — Hon.  B.  P.  Clayton,  Pormer  president 
of  Parmers  National  Congress. 

"  Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  is  a  good  preacher,  and  a  success- 
ful evangelist." — Rev.  E.  L.  Parks,  D.D.,  Prof.  Cannnnn 
School  of  Theology,  Atlanta,  Georgia. 

"  I  have  heard  Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  lecture  and  preach 
many  times.  He  always  instructs,  entertains,  and  helps  his 
hearers.  His  lecture  on  Heaven  is  especially  meritorious." — 
Rez\  [f.  G.  Hohanshelt,  D.D.,  Presiding  Elder  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  Indianola,  lozva. 

"  Rev.  W\A.Wiseman  is  especially  gifted.  He  excels  as  a 
gospel  preacher.  He  overcomes  the  will  through  the  con- 
science, and  his  words  of  truth  seem  irresistible." — Rev.  J.  F. 
Beebe,  Oneida,  New  York. 

"Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  is  a  strong  gospel  preacher,  and  a 
successful  evangelist." — Rev.  J.  H.  Senseny  D.D.  Des  Moines 
Conference,  lozva. 


of  George  W.  Felts  175 

"  Rev.  \V.  A.  Wiseman  is  one  of  the  most  zealous,  dis- 
creet, and  successful  workers  that  I  have  ever  known." — Rev. 
]V.  S.  Hooker,  D.D.,  Indianola,  loiva. 

"  Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  is  a  good  reasoner,  and  a  fluent 
speaker." — Rev.  H.  J.  Korris,  formerly  Pastor  Broadzvay 
MetJiodist  Chuck,  Logansport,  Ind. 

"  Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  spent  three  weeks  with  us  in  spe- 
cial services.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  recommending  him.  He 
is  perfectly  safe,  and  is  energetic  and  untiring  in  his  work.  I 
have  the  utmost  confidence  in  him. — Rev.  JVm.  J.  Harkness, 
PJi.  D.,  Pastor  Trinity  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Jackson- 
ville, Florida. 

"Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  has  had  a  wide  experience  as  pastor 
and  evangehst,  and  has  been  very  successful.  He  speaks  with 
clearness  and  force,  and  with  a  power  that  produces  conviction 
of  truth." — Rev.  J.  F.  Eaker,  Pastor  First  Baptist  Church, 
Hudson,  lozva. 

"Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman,  as  a  speaker,  is  chaste,  logical,  and 
eloquent."— 7?6'Z'.  G.  B.  Work,  D.D,  Wabash,  Ind. 

"  Rev.  W.  A.  Wiseman  is  a  forceful  and  entertaining 
speaker." — Rev.  W.  A.  Cooper,  Pastor  First  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  Denison,  Texas. 


lit;  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

Executive  Office,  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  April  28,  1905. 
To  Whom  it  May  Concern : 

It  g^ves  me  pleasure  to  say  that  Mrs.  Matikla  Fletcher 
Wiseman,  a  resident  of  this  city,  is  a  woman  of  high  attain- 
ments, who  bears  an  enviable  reputation  in  this  community. 

I  cordially  recommend  her  to  your  favorable  considera- 
tion. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Albert  U.  Cummins. 
(Governor  of  Iowa.) 

Drake  I'nivcrsltx   College  of  Law  Dcs  Mmiiu-.  1m\sm.  M;i\    1-t 

1905. 
To  Whom  it  May  Concern : 

I  have  been  for  many  years  well  acfjuainted  with  Matilda 
Fletcher  Wiseman.  I  know  her  to  be  a  woman  of  marked 
ability  and  of  excellent  character.  She  has  for  many  years 
been  engaged  in  delivering  lectures  u|xjn  ditlerent  subjects, 
and  always  witli  great  acceptability  to  her  audiences.  I  can 
and  do  hereby  commend  licr  most  cordially  to  the  ])ublic  as 
worthy  and  well  deserving  of  patronage,  and  recognition. 

Very  respectfully, 

C.'C.  Cole. 
(Dean  of  the  Drake  I'nivcrsity  College  of  Law.) 

United  States  Senate,  Washington,  D.  C,  May  1st  1905. 
To  Whom  it  May  Concern : 

I  take  pleasure  in  commending  Matilda  Fletcher 
to  those  who  may  be  interested,  as  an  effective  pub- 
lic speaker.  She  is  enthusiastic  in  her  work  and  possesses  ex- 
cellent ability  to  entertain  instruct  and  amuse  an  audience.  She 
is  a  lady  of  the  highest  standing  and  one  who  has  been  long 
engaged  in  most  valuable  work.  It  gives  me  pleasure  to  com- 
mend her. 

Very  respectfullv, 
(United  States  Senator  from  Iowa.)  W.  I>.  Allison. 


of  George  W.  Felts  177 

United  States  Senate,  Washington,  D.  C,  May  7th  1905. 
To  Whom  it  May  Concern : 

I  have  known  Matilda  Fletcher  for  many  years,  and  know 
her  to  be  a  woman  of  ability  and  integrity  of  character,  and 
it  will  always  give  me  pleasure  to  learn  of  her  success  in  any- 
thing she  may  attempt. 

J.  P.  Dolliver. 
(United  States  Senator  from  Iowa.) 

POPULAR  LECTURES  BY  MATILDA  FLETCHER. 

Subjects : 

I.     The  Heart  of  a  Man. 
il.     The  Happy  Couple. 

III.     Is  Man  an  Angel? 

I\  .     The  Rogue's  Gallery.     (New) 

All  the  audiences  that  have  heard  her  have  been  greatly 
pleased. — Nezv  York  Tribune. 

The  speaker  has  great  elocutionary  power.  The  audience 
took  to  her  at  once,  listened  attentively,  interrupting  her  every 
now  and  then  with  laughter  and  applause.  It  is  only  fair  to 
say  that  Matilda  Mctcher  is  one  of  the  most  attractive  and  elo- 
quent speakers  in  this  country. — Nciv  York  Times. 

One  of  the  finest  and  largest  audiences  ever  known  here 
assembled  at  the  City  Hall  last  evening  for  the  purpose  of 
listening  to  Matilda  Fletcher,  the  famous  lady  orator.  The 
papers  have  been  very  eloquent  in  her  praise  wherever  she  has 
appeared,  but  we  must  confess  that  we  were  surprised  at  the 
depth  of  thought  displayed. — Rochester,  N.  Y.,  Democrat  and 
Chronicle. 

Her  lecture  was  frequently  applauded,  and  was  well  cal- 
culated to  incite  healthful  thought.  It  was,  moreover,  richly 
spiced  with  humor  and  incident. — Utica,  Observer. 

Those  of  our  citizens  who  failed  to  hear  this  lady  last 
evening  missed  a  rare  treat  indeed.     Pure  and  lofty  in  char- 


178  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

acter,  her  sentiments  were  evidently  the  expressions  of  a  noble 
woman. — Journal,  Lockport,  N.  Y. 

Cheer  after  cheer  demonstrated  the  satisfaction  of  the 
large  audience. — Cincinnati,   O.,  Commercial  Gazette. 

Her  fine  appearance  and  modest  manner,  as  well  as  her 
thrilling  and  matchless  eloquence  rivet  the  attention  and  fairly 
carry  the  hearts  of  her  hearers  by  storm. — Cleveland,  0., 
Leader. 

She  has  demonstrated  a  woman's  power  to  earn  golden 
opinions  on  the  platform  as  a  lecturer. — Chicago  Inter  Ocean. 

She  has  few  equals  and  no  superiors. — Chicago  Tribune. 

Her  enthusiasm  for  her  work  is  unbounded,  and  she  has 
such  a  happy  way  of  showing  us  our  faults,  that  we  go  away 
admiring  her  the  more.  No  dramatist  could  thrill  his  audience 
more  than  she  did  at  times. — Mattcon,  III.,  Gazette. 

The  lecture  was  received  with  enthusiastic  applause. 
Many  portions  of  it  were  characterized  with  choice  flights  of 
eloquence. — Chronicle,   Washington,  D.  C. 

Matilda  Fletcher  has  already  established  a  national  repu- 
tation. Her  address  is  earnest  and  pleasing,  her  voice  is  pe- 
culiarly clear  and  distinct,  but  rich  and  full  in  tone,  and  she 
reasons  a  case  like  a  lawyer  who  disdains  to  stoop  to  claptrap 
or  sensationalism. — Lincoln,  Neb.,  State  Journal. 

Matilda  Metcher  is  one  of  the  pleasantest  speakers  we 
have  ever  listened  to,  language  faultless  while  her  subjects  are 
always  well  chosen. — Tribune,  Fremont,  Neb. 

Her  address  was  interspersed  with  woman's  true  wit — 
the  best  and  wittiest  wit  in  the  world. — Omaha,  Neb.,  Repub- 
lican. 

She  is  possessed  of  all  the  qualities  that  go  to  make  an 
effective  speaker,  eloquence,  wit,  logic,  originality,  and  where- 
ever  she  goes  she  is  bound  to  meet  with  success. — Bee,  Omaha, 
Neb. 

Matilda  Fletcher's  lectures  are  full  of  thought  and  strong 
in  good  sense,  while  from  beginning  to  end  they  glitter  with 
a  continuous   sparkle  of  beautiful   ideas  and  exquisite  senti- 


of  George  W.  Felts  179 

mciits.  She  is  a  person  of  correct  speech  and  great  soul. — 
Iowa  State  Register,  Des  Moines. 

Her  lecture  bristled  with  sharp  points,  eliciting  repeated 
and  .enthusiastic  applause,  and  was  pervaded  with  a  mirth- 
provoking  spirit  of  wit  and  pleasantry,  which,  kept  her  audi- 
ence in  best  of  humor  from  beginning  to  end. — Burlington, 
lozva,  Haivkeye. 

She  was  interrupted  often  by  tumultuous  applause,  in- 
s])ired  by  hap])y  hits  and  telling  truths. — Journal,  Muscatine, 
Io7^'a. 

The  address  was  sparkling  with  wit,  studded  with  great 
truths,  and  altogether  entertaining. — Sioux  City,  Iowa,  Jour- 
nal. 

Pathetic  at  times  to  a  degree  that  moistened  many  eyes, 
witty  with  a  humor  tiiat  sent  merry  laughter  rippling  around 
the  crowded  hall,  an<l  then  argumentative  with  a  logic  that 
was  irresistible,  it  was  an  address  that  at  once  delighted  and 
pleased. — Ma'sltalltozi'n,  I  a..   Times. 

For  an  hour  and  a  half  she  held  her  audience  in  the  closest 
attention.  Her  manner  is  one  of  ease  andx:ulture  and  is  aided 
by  the  rare  and  valuable  gift  of  a  voice  marvelously  flexible 
and  musical. — Courier,  Ottumwa,  la. 

Her  lectures  are  brilliant  enough  to  till  the  grandest  opera 
house  of  the  Union,  and  chaste  enough  to  be  heard  from  the 
most  sacred  altar. — Central  Illinoisan,  Beardstown,  III. 

Matilda  Fletcher  is  witty — Quaintly  so  at  times — fear- 
lessly independent  and  logical,  and  combines  withal  a  win- 
some and  simple  style  of  prompt,  sparkling  oratory,  which,  ir- 
resistibly carries  her  audience  with  her. — La  Salle  Press,  III. 

The  lecture  was  full  of  thought  and  strong  in  good  sense 
yet  spiced  with  happy  hits  of  humor  and.  genuine  wit.  She 
speaks  without  notes,  presenting  her  ideas  in  a  forcible  man- 
ner, throwing  her  true  womanly  soul  into  the  work.  She  has 
a  sweet  ,musical  voice,  a  mind  of  high  culture,  together  with 
all  the  genuine  elements  of  oratory. — Danville  Commercial. 


180  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

Nothing  less  than  the  words  of  the  speaker  could  do  jus- 
tice to  her  able  and  eloquent  address.- — Madison,  Wisconsin, 
JouDuil. 

Matilda  I''lctclicr  is  a  woman  oi  clear,  logical  ])nwcr,  of 
exhuberant  fancy  of  beautiful  diction,  of  unbounded  resources 
in  theology,  philosophy  and  literature,  of  pleasing  person  and 
address,  and  altogether  a  charming  and  powerful  lecturer. — 
If'isconsin  Prohibitionist. 

Monday  evening  Matilda  Fletcher  furnished  tlie  last  lit- 
erary entertainment  of  the  Young  People's  Lecture  Course  for 
this  season.  Her  discourse,  besides  ])eing  logical  and  replete 
with  originality,  was  clothed  in  beautiful  rhetoric  and  unsur- 
passable eloquence.  She  held  very  closely  the  attention  of  the 
audience  which  followed  her  in  her  different  views  and  were 
greatly  amused  at  the  sparkling  witticisms  she  uttered.  Every 
one  was  highly  j^lcased  witli  her  lecture  and  felt  satisfied  that 
the  course  should  end  so  favorably  and  ^o  successfully. — 
Herald,  Sparta,  Wis. 

Matilda  Fletcher's  lecture  was  very  ingenious  and  amus- 
ing. It  was  conceded  by  all  that  in  all  the  finer  and  subtler 
graces  of  eloquence,  and  in  the  plain,  practical  good  sense 
which  tempered  the  fervor  of  her  enthusiasm,  in  intellectual 
fertility,  in  genuine  humor  and  in  modest  and  graceful  woman- 
liness of  manner  and  temper  and  si)eech,  she  far  excels  any 
of  the  famous  lady  orators  who  have  heretofore  visited  St. 
Paul. — Pioneer  Press,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

The  principal  charm  of  this  lady's  lecture  is  that  she  uses 
no  ranting  style  of  argument  but  speaks  with  spice  and  rich 
humor.  Her  wit  is  genuine  and  of  high  character. — Tribune. 
Minneapolis. 

Matilda  Fletcher's  lecture  was  rendered  in  the  most  fluent, 
chaste  and  beautiful  language,  interspersed  with  wit  and  llow- 
ers  of  oratory,  that  we  have  never  heard  equalled,  except  by 
Mr.  Prentiss,  the  great  Mississippi  orator,  but  in  a  different 
line,  and  those  who  failed  to  hear  her,  lost  a  most  intellectual 
and  entertaining  treat  that  the  eloquence  of  the  gifted  lady 


of  George  W.  Felts  ISl 

afforded.  As  a  lecturer  she  is  certainly  unsurpassed  to  make 
people  wiser  and  better,  and  having  sprung  from  a  North 
Carolina  family  the  state  will  be'  proud  of  her  daughter.  She 
will  find  appreciation  everywhere  by  the  generous  people  of  the 
South. — American,  Statcsi'illc,  N.  C. 

At  the  night  session  the  Hall  of  Representatives  was  filled 
to  overflowing  with  members  of  the  general  assembly,  ladies 
and  citizen  who  repaired  thither  to  hear  an  address  or  lec- 
ture delivered  by  Matilda  IHetchcr.  Tlie  subject  of  the  Iccturo 
was  the  importance  of  an  industrial  and  moral  education,  and 
her  mission  to  the  South  is  to  endeavor  to  induce  the  state 
governments  to  incorporate  such  a  department  of  technical 
education  into  the  common  school  system  of  the  states.  The 
lady  was  introduced  to  the  audience  by  Speaker  Sheppard. 
who  resigned  his  desk  for  the  occasion.  It  is  difficult  to  give 
by  telegraph  any  fair  idea  of  the  address,  but  it  may  be  said 
that  the  manifest  modesty  and  thorough  earnestness  of  the 
fair  lecturer  soon  commanded  a  degree  of  attention  and  respect 
for  lier  and  her  subject  which  was*  not  altogether  expected  at 
the  outset.  She  was  warmly  applauded,  and  at  the  close  of  her 
remarks  it  was  generally  conceded  on  all  sides  that  lier  views 
were  marked  by  sound  common  sense. — Netvs  and  Courier, 
Charleston,  S.  C. 

It  would  be  imi)ossible  foi  u-  i..  v. mino  a  just  impression 
of  the  lady's  sound,  practical  sense,  wonderful  elocutionary 
powers,  beautiful  enunciation,  sublime  rhetoric  and  elocjuent 
sentiments.  It  was  a  fine  oratorical  effort,  as  well  as  one  of 
the  most  sensible  speeches  ever  delivered  in  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives.— Daily  Register,  Columbia,  S.  C. 

The  Congressional  Temperance  Society  furnished  the  citi- 
zens of  Washington  with  a  rare  treat  Sunday  evening  in  Ma- 
tilda Fletcher's  thrilling  beautiful  temperance  story-poem  en- 
titled "  Nemesis."  The  audience  received  it  with  enthusiastic 
praise.  Eminent  members  of  the  Society  surprised  the  elo- 
(juent  speaker  the  next  morning  with  an  envelope  containing 
one  hundred  dollars. — Chronicle,  Washington,  D.  C. 


182  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

The  beauty  of  this  story  is  beyond  any  power  to  describe ; 
every  word  fits  in  its  place  as  Uiough  it  had  been  modeled  by 
a  masterly  hand  for  the  duty  to  which  she  assigns  it.  But  you 
must  listen  to  one  of  her  poetical  discourses  before  you  can  well 
understand  the  power  of  this  gifted  woman. — N'czv  York  Tem- 
perance Patriot,  Washington  Correspondent. 

Matilda  Fletcher  delivered  her  celebrated  temperance 
story  in  this  city.  The  story  is  a  pretty  one  and  well  told.  The 
people  were  enthusiastic  in  their  praise  both  of  the  lecturer 
and  the  poem. — Lockport,  N.  Y.,  Daily  A^eivs. 

The  beautiful  temperance  poem  last  evening  showed  Ma- 
tilda Fletcher  to  be  not  only  a  person  of  sweet  speech,  but  of 
great  soul. — Iowa  State  Register,  Des  Moines,  la. 

The  story  is  so  wrought  as  to  carry  her  listeners  in  breath- 
less attention  to  the  end  and  some  of  the  most  beautiful  gems 
of  thought  and  expression  are  in  the  by-ways  of  the  plot.  Thus 
has  this  lady  developed  a  truth  of  science  with  a  power 
for  popular  good  which  no  scientist  has  achieved,  and  clothed 
the  subject  with  an  affluence  of  beauties  rare  and  attractive. 
Though  a  powerful  temperance  sermon,  it  has  a  broader  sig- 
nificance as  a  contril)ution  to  literature,  and  its  poetic  features 
appeal  to  the  cultured  of  every  class. — Tribune,  lozi'a  City. 

Matilda  Fletcher  delivered  the  address  for  the  State  Fair 
in  the  Floral  Hall,  and  for  nearly  two  hours  delighted  her 
audience. — Lincoln,  Neb.,  State  Journal. 

Matilda  Fletcher's  lecture  to  the  farmers'  wives  and 
daughters  was  one  of  the  best  it  has  ever  been  our  i)rivilege 
to  attend. — Kansas  Farmer. 

So  many  of  our  readers  have  seen  and  heard  Matilda 
Fletcher  that  a  personal  notice  would  be  superfluous.  Possess- 
ing a  fine  physique  and  a  particularly  sweet  voice  she  could  not 
fail  to  secure  the  attention  of  her  audience.  It  would  be  impos- 
sible to  give  even  a  just  synopsis  of  her  lecture.  We  regret  that 
we  cannot  publish  it  verbatim,  that  all  the  wives  and  daughters 
of  the  city  and  country  could  read  it.     The  fair  orator  was 


of  George  W.  Felts  183 

frequently  applauded  during  her  lecture  and  at  the  close  was 
warmly  congratulated. — Evayisinlle,  Ind.,  Journal. 

Matilda  Fletcher's  address  uiK)n  Farmers'  Wives  and 
Daughters  was  a  masterly  production  of  oratorical  genius. — 
Advertiser,  Tipton,  Iowa. 

Matilda  Fletcher's  address  seemed  to  be  the  great  object 
of  visitors  to  our  fair,  and  the  result  satisfied  all  who  were  able 
to  hear  her.  She  leaves  the  lecture  field  for  a  few  days  to  be 
able  to  reach  a  large  number  of  those  who  furnish  her  theme. — 
Bulletin,  Freeport,  III. 

From  Rev.  M.  D.  Kinney,  President   Thousand    Island 

Park  Association,  St.  Laurence  River. 

Matilda  Fletcher  lectured  in  the  Thousand  Island  Park 
Tabernacle  last  evening  and  greatly  delighted  our  people.  She 
is  a  first  class  lecturer  in  all  respects — bright,  fluent,  humorous, 
strong  and  sensible.  Tlu  re  i>  no  ri>k  in  .idvcrti'^intr  her  in  the 
very  highest  terms. 

From  Rev.  George  Wesley  Peck,  A.  M.,  L.  L.  D.,  Principal 
Silver  Lake  School  of  Biblical  Topography. 
Having  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  Matilda  Fletcher's 
lecture,  I  have  no  hesitancy  in  sa}ing  it  is  a  splendid  presen- 
tation of  a  most  iK)pular  subject.  The  close  attention  of  the 
audience  was  held  to  the  end  of  the  lecture.  The  speaker  is 
entirely  at  home  unon  tlio  nlntfr.mi,  and  her  liappv  manner  i^ 
above  criticism. 

From  Rev.  J.  //'.  Thompson,  Pastor  Presbyterian  Church, 

Shelby,  Ohio. 

I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  Matilda  Fletcher  lec- 
ture, and  have  no  hesitancy  in  commending  her  as  entertain- 
ing and  first  class  in  every  particular. 

From  Rez:  I.  O.  Pcaslee,  Pastor,  M.  E.  Church,  Adams,  N.  V. 
Matilda   Fletcher   gave   her   celebrated   lecture   here   last 
evening  to  a  highly  interested  audience.     All  were  delighted 
and  profited. 


184  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

FromRcv.  E.  B.  Kcphart,  D.  D.,  Bishop  of  United  Brethren 

Church. 

Her  principles  once  practiced  among  men,  earth  will 
bloom  like  the  garden  of  God,  and  there  will  be  but  **  one  fold, 
one  shepherd." 

From  Prof.  H.  M.  Parker,  Superintendent  Puhlie  Schools, 

Elyria,  Ohio. 

Matilda  Fletcher  was  greeted  by  an  appreciative  audience 
upon  her  third  visit  to  Elyria.  She  combined  the  serious  and 
humorous  phases  of  life  so  skillfully  as  to  hold  the  undivided 
attention  of  her  audience. 

From  Rev.  Elvcro  Persons,  Pastor,  M.  E.  Church,  Norwalk, 

Ohio. 

Matilda  Fletcher  has  given  us  an  evening  of  delightful  en- 
tertainment and  filled  it  with  the  most  helpful  instruction.  She 
has  a  happy  manner,  most  j^opular  theme,  is  sufficiently  en- 
tertaining for  the  pleasure-loving,  and  quite  reverent  enough 
for  the  sedate.    This  is  her  third  visit  to  Norwalk. 

From  Rc2\  S.  O.  Barnes,  Pastor  M.  E.  Church,  Clayton,  X.  Y. 
Matilda  Fletcher  lectured  here  last  night.     Her  lecture 
was  of  a  high  order  and  delivered  in  an  eflfectivc  manner. 

From  Rcr.  C.  Parks  Ez'ans,  Pastor  Reformed  Church,  Alex- 
andria Bay,  St.  LauTcnce  River. 
Matilda  Fletcher  lectured  in  the  Opera  House  here  last 

evening.    To  express  briefly  my  candid  opinion  it  was  the  finest 

lecture  I  ever  heard. 

From  Rev.  H.  L.  Wiles,  President  English  Lutheran  Synod 
and  Pastor  English  Lutheran  Church,  Mansfield,  Ohio. 
Matilda  Fletcher's  lecture  was  charming,  the  delivery 
faultless.  She  held  her  audience  entranced  throughout  and 
notwithstanding  the  length  of  the  lecture  the  people  went  away 
saying,  "  we  wish  she  had  spoken  longer."  The  lecture  is 
based  upon  the  word  of  God.  It  instructs,  elevates  and  en- 
nobles.    It  must  do  good  wherever  delivered.     Whenever  the 


of  George  W.  Felts  185 

lecturer  comes  this  way  she  will  receive  a  cordial  and  enthusi 
astic  welcome  from  the  people  of  Mansfield.    We  take  pleasure 
in  commending  lier  to  our  people. 

Fro)n  J.  P.  Stockton,  Pastor  Presbyterian  Church,  West  Unity, 

Ohio. 

Matilda  Metcher's  lecture  in  this  place  last  evening  en- 
listed the  closest  attention  from  the  entire  audience  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end.  I'or  beauty  of  thought,  wit  and  instruc- 
tion, she  ranks  among  the  best.  Her  allusions  to  evolution 
were  happy  and  humorous  and  her  portrayal  of  the  high  ideal 
our  maker  jilaccs  before  us  all,  vivid  and  -ii1)]inic 

J' ram  Rev.  J.  P.  Martin,  Pastor  I'resbytcnan  Lliurch,  Mans- 
field, III. 
Matilda  I'Ictcher  delivered  her  popular  lecture.  **  Is  Man 

an  Angel,"  at  the  Opera  House  last  night  to  a  large  audience. 

To  say  that  the  people  were  pleased  would  be  putting  it  very 

mildly,  they  were  delighted.     The  general  comment  was  that 

it  was  the  finest  thing  we  ever  heard. 

Rev.  A.  H.  Rhodes.  Pastor  Baptist  Church,  Chrisman,  III. 

All  were  greatly  pleased  and  I  hear  commendations  of  the 
lecture  on  the  streets  and  in  the  stores  this  morning.  Matilda 
Fletcher  is  a  decided  success,  and  I  take  pleasure  in  recom- 
mending' her  'n  cv^tv  wav. 


"o 


Rev.  B.  P.  Laicrence,  Pastor  Pirst  Cumberland  Presbyterian 

Church,  Danvers,  III. 

Matilda  Fletcher  delivered  her  lecture  entitled,  '  Is  Man 
an  Angel,"  here  last  evening.  I  most  unhesitatingly  say  it 
was  the  finest  lecture  given  during  my  four  years'  pastorate 
in  this  place.  She  gave  perfect  satisfaction  and  I  am  glad  to 
recommend  her  to  any  town. 

From  Rev.  L.  P.  Norflcet,  Pastor  M.  E.  Church  South  Mar- 
shall, Mo. 
We  did  well  by  having  Matilda  Fletcher  lecture  for  us. 


18G  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

She  captivated  our  people.    I  was  delighted  beyond  my  highest 
expectation.    Everybody  was  well  pleased. 

I'ro)ii  Rev.  Jl\  C.  Schring,  President  Hooper  Institute,  Clarks- 
burg, Missouri. 

Matilda  Fletcher's  lecture  was  first  class  in  every  partic- 
ular. A  most  important  subject,  logically  and  interestingly 
treated.    It  will  benefit  all  who  hear  it. 

Prom  R.  D.  Sivain,  President  Baptist  College,  Pierce  City, 

Missouri. 

Our  people  were  out  in  large  numbers  to  hear  Matilda 
Fletcher,  and  they  were  well  pleased.  Her  lecture  is  magnifi- 
cent, her  humor  warm  and  refined,  and  her  voice  and  manner 
charming.  Her  sentiments  are  ennobling  and  her  arguments 
are  convincing.  She  e.xalts  the  spiritual  in  man,  has  her  faith 
rooted  in  God  and  his  word,  and  she  speaks  her  convictions 
in  a  bold  and  fearless  manner.  I  recommend  her  to  the  lecture 
committees  of  our  schools  and  churches. 

Prom  Rev.  O.  H.  Smith,  President  Seminary,  Maryznlle,  Mis- 
souri. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  indorse  heartily  Matilda  Fletcher 
as  a  public  lecturer.  Her  effort  here  last  night  was  listened 
to  by  a  large  audience,  and  won  encomiums  from  all.  Her 
theme  was  grand,  and  all  she  said  was  pervaded  by  a  moral, 
religious  and  elevating  spirit.  Her  command  of  language  is 
wonderful  and  her  style  of  oratory  superior.  She  will  please, 
instruct  and  benefit  all  who  hear  her. 

Prom   J.    JP.  Lozvber,   Pastor  Christian     Church,    Galveston, 

Texas,  and  Chancellor  Add-Ran  University. 
To  zi'hom  it  May  Concern: 

This  testifies  that  Matilda  Fletcher  lectured  in  the  Cen- 
tral Christian  Church  last  evening  on  the  subject,  **  Is  Man 
an  Angel,"  and  our  people  were  delighted  with  the  lecture.  It 
was  scientific,  philosophical  and  practical.  It  was  one  of  .the 
finest  lectures  to  which  I  have  ever  listened.     She  is  a  fluent 


of  George  W.  Felts  187 

speaker,  and  has  enough  humor  to  keep  up  the  interest.  She 
spoke  for  two  hours  without  hesitation,  and  there  was  no  lack 
of  attention  on  the  part  of  the  audience  during  the  entire  time. 

From  L.  E.  Mauncy,  B.  S.  B.  L.,  Supt.  City  Schools,  Bastrop, 
Texas. 

Matilda  Fletcher  delivered  a  charming  and  instructive  lec- 
ture in  the  Opera  House  last  night.  She  is  a  scholar  and  a 
poet,  possessing  a  valuable  fund  of  information.  Slie  handles 
her  unique  subject,  '*  Is  M^n  an  Angel,"  in  a  manner  that  cap- 
tivates and  instructs.  One  feels  better  for  having  heard  her. 
The  audience  would  gladly  have  listened  another  hour.  A 
leading  divine  said,  "  that  lecture  is  a  power  for  good."  An- 
other said,  **  I  wish  my  sons  had  heard  that  lecture." 

From  President  Butler,  Ph.  D.,  and  i  ruf.  J .  r.  Anderson,  A. 
M.,  of  Grayson  College,  Whitcwright,  Texas. 

Matilda  Fletcher  delivered  her  famous  lecture  before  the 
students  and  patrons  of  GraN'son  College  last  night,  and  it  is 
our  candid  judgment  that  it  was  the  best  lecture  ever  delivered 
in  the  college  or  in  the  city.  We  personally  consider  her  lec- 
ture better  than  any  \vc  ever  heard,  and  we  have  heard  some 
of  the  best  in  America. 

From  Prof.  Charles  Smith,  B.  B.  Gilmer,  Dr.  F.  0.  Norris,  W. 
S.  Strickland,  Eagle  Lake,  Texas. 

Matilda  Fletcher  delivered  her  famous  lecture  "  Is  Man 
an  Angel,"  to  a  large  audience  last  evening.  She  captivated 
the  audience  with  her  first  appearance  on  the  platform,  by  her 
beautiful  womanly  expression.  Her  introduction  was  spark- 
ling with  wit  and  replete  with  logical  thoughts  beautifully  ex- 
pressed. 

The  lecture  itself  dealing  with  some  of  the  profoundest 
problems  of  life  was  handled  with  so  much  grace  and  naivette. 
interspersed  with  both  humorous  and  patriotic  passages  cleverly 
pointing  her  conclusions  that  the  hearer  forgot  in  the  charm 


188  Trial  and  Imprisonment 

of  her  eloquent  sentences  that  he  was  listening  to  a  critical  dis- 
cussion of  a  metaphysical  subject. 

Matilda  Fletcher  is  a  credit  to  her  sex  on  the  lecture  plat- 
form, and  the  man  who  can  listen  to  her  and  not  feel  benefitted 
is  a  ''  chump,"  fit  for  strategems,  treason  and  spoils. 

I'ro))i  Dr.  Evan  Mona  Jones,  Pastor  First  Baptist  Church,  St. 
James,  Minn. 

Matilda  Fletcher's  lecture  last  Saturday  evening  was  a 
splendid  success.  Our  high  expectations  were  fully  met.  The 
lecture  is  replete  with  elevating  and  ennobling  sentiments, 
clothed  in  choicest  language  and  delivered  with  charming 
fluency.  Her  wit  and  humor  added  materially  to  the  entertain- 
ing feature  of  the  address.  We  netted  a  good  sum  of  money. 
Every  ticket  was  sold  long  before  she  came. 

l-roni  Prof.  N.  R.  Baker,  President  CoUci^e,  Citronelle,  Ahi- 

hama. 

I  consider  the  lecture,  '*  Is  Man  an  Angel,"  one  of  the 
very  best  of  high  grade  lectures.  It  is  upon  a  vital  theme,  and 
should  be  heard  by  every  student.  Vov  depth  of  thought  upon 
the  subject,  for  delicate  play  of  words,  and  for  pleasing  man- 
ner of  presentation,  I  liave  never  met  Matilda  Metcher's  su- 
perior. 

Prom  Prof.  J.  T.  Barrett,  President  Arcadia  College,  Crowley, 
Louisiana. 

Matilda  I'letcher  delivered  her  celebrated  lecture,  "  Is 
Man  an  Angel,"  in  our  town  last  night,  and  without  exception, 
people  are  enthused  over  it.  Personally,  I  consider  it  one  of 
the  very  best,  both  in  matter  and  delivery,  I  have  ever  heard. 

Prom  Prof.  O.  P.  Kinsey,  Principal  Northern  Indiana  Normal 
School  and  Business  Institute,  Wilpraiso,  Indiana. 
Matilda  Fletcher  lectured  to  a  very  large  audience  here 

last  night.    Her  lecture  pleased  our  people  very  much.    It  was 

eloquent,  witty  and  wise. . 


of  George  W.  Felts  189 

Irom  Prof.  J.  li'.  Bisscll,  President  Upper  lozca  Uuizersitx, 
I  heard  Matilda  Fletcher  lecture  on,  '*  Is  Man  an  Angel," 
and  regard  it  as  one  of  the  very  best  lectures  to  which  I  have 
listened ;  it  is  calculated  to  do  great  good,  and  should  be  heard 
especially  by  college  students. 


ake    the    Deaf 
Hear   Instantly 


A  Marvelous  Invention  which  magnifies  sound  and  makes  it 
possible  for  the  deaf  to  hear  without  effort.  Many  who  have 
been  deaf  for  years  can  now,  with  its  use,   hear  as  well  as   ever. 

It  actually  restores  hearing  to  the  deaf  as  surely  as  the  tele- 
scope makes  invisible  things  visible.  This  fact  has  been  proven 
beyond  doubt  in  thousands  of  cases  of  partial  or  total  deafness. 
You  hear  with  perfect  case  and  accuracy,  and  3'ou .  are  restored 
to  all  the  pleasure  and  satisfaction  of  society,  relationship  with 
family,  friends,  church,  theater,  etc.  To  the  business  man  it  is  a 
priceless  boon,  keeping  him  in  thorough  touch  with  his  affairs. 

The  Acousticon 

does  not  pour  a  big  volume  of  sound  into  the  ears.  It  carries  to 
the  ear  all  sounds  in  their  natural  tone  and  strength  and  most 
distinctly.  There  is  no  shock,  no  unsightly  trumpet  or  tube,  no  dan- 
gerous device  to  put  in  the  car. 

Provided  by  leading  churches  throughout  the  United  States  for 
their  deaf  members.  Provided  by  John  Wanamaker  for  deaf  mem- 
bers of  Bethany  Presbyterian  Church,  Philadelphia. 

We  are  raising  no  false  hopes  when  we  assure  you  or  your 
friends  that  such  a  condition  is  no  longer  a  hopeless  affliction. 

If  you  can  not  come  to  one  of  our  demonstration  rooms, 
write  us  and  we  will  send  you  full  information,  positive  proof  and 
book  of  testimonials,  some  from  people  you  know. 

GENERAL  ACOUSTIC    COMPANY, 

Largest  Manufacturers  of  Instruments  for  the  Deaf  in  the  World. 

1263  Broadway,  New  York,  1422  Masonic  Temple,  Chicago, 

Commonwealth  Bldg.,  12  and  Chestnut  Sts.,  Philadelphia, 

15  B  Pemberton  Square,  Boston. 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


3  0112  063833765 


